USA > Oregon > The Oregon native son, 1900-1901 > Part 16
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F. H. SAYLOR.
INDIAN WAR HISTORY, ERRORS.
MISTAKES MADE BY MRS. VICTORIPOINTED OUT BY REV. MYRON EELLS.
I have read with interest Mrs. Victor's "Early Indian Wars of Oregon," and de- sire to offer a few corrections, supply omissions, etc., therefore call attention to the following:
Chapter II, page 17, of such history, says: "Besides the Methodist missions, there were north of the Columbia river and east of the Cascade mountains sev- eral Presbyterian missions, founded in 1836, 1837 and 1838. These were under the superintendency of Dr. Marcus Whitman, and supported by the Ameri- can Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Dr. Whitman was settled among the Cavuses in the Walla Walla valley, twenty-five miles from Fort Walla
Walla of the Hudson's Bay Company. Rev. H. H. Spalding was stationed among the Nez Perces, eighty miles east of the superintendent, on the Clearwater river at a place called Lapwai; and a third station on a branch of the Spokane river, about forty miles from Fort Colville of the Hudson's Bay Company, was in charge of Elkanah Walker and Cushing Eells. who had charge of the Spokane Indians. A fourth station was selected among the Nez Perces, about sixty miles northeast of Lapwai, which was put in charge of A. B. Smith."
There are at least three errors in matter of fact in the above state- mient. The American Board of
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Commissioners for Foreign Missions founded no missions north of the Columbia and east of the Cascade mountains, all being south and east of that river. The one at Waiilatpu (Dr. Whitman's), was 25 miles east of it; the Lapwai mission (Mr. Spalding's) not less than 100 miles east; the Tshimakani mission (Messrs. Walker and Eells), about 30 miles east and about 75 miles from the fort of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany at Colville, instead of 40 miles as Mrs. Victor has it. The Kamiah mision (Mr. Smith), was also east of that river. None of these missions were established in 1837, as she writes. Waiilatpu and Lapwai missions were founded in 1836, the one at Tshimakani in 1838, and that at Kamiah in 1839. Reckoning the course of the Columbia geographically as west, which is generally so construed, it would be said that all these missions were located south of the river, never north.
Again, Dr. Whitman was not "super- intendent" of these missions. The affairs of these missions were settled in annual or special meetings of the missionaries, and were determined by a majority vote of each missionary present. Dr. Whit- man's vote counted as one, and the vote of each missionary present counted the same. Dr. Whitman is also erroneously styled "superintendent" on pages 27, 28, 29, 30 and 37.
These missions were not "Presbyter- ian missions," notwitlistanding the his- torian's statements. Dr. Whitman and Mr. Spalding were Presbyterians and Messrs. Walker, Eells and Smith were Congregationalists. The American Board which supported them was sus- tained by gifts from the Congregational, Presbyterian and Dutch Reformed churches, and was a union society. The two latter denominations have since withdrawn their support from it, so that now it is distinctly Congregational. This misleading statement appears again on page 40.
Again. on page 26, the books says: "A. B. Smith, the year after his arrival with Gray's party, was sent to establish a
mission upon the lands of Chief Ellis, at Kamiah, east of Lapwai. To do this he had permission, but was forbiden to cul- tivate the land. After being at Kamiah one year Smith made some preparations to till a small field, but Ellis reminded him that he had been warned not to do so. 'Do you not know,' he asked, 'what has been told you, that you would be dig- ging a hole in which you would be buried?' At this he desisted, but the fol- lowing year made another attempt, and was again reminded, when he made no more such efforts."
Mrs Victor does not give her authori- ty for the statement, but the original is given in Brouillet's "Protestantism in Oregon," on authority of an interpreter's statement that the Indians told him so; that is, Rev. Brouillet says that John Toupin says that the Indians said it was so. Mrs. Victor, however, could not rely on Toupin's statement wholly, as she found mistakes in it, so she changed his statement some, for he added after the word "buried": "Thereupon Mr. Smith said, 'Let me go, and I will leave the place,' and he started off immediately. That circumstance has been related to me by the Indians, and soon after I saw Mr. Smith myself at Fort Walla Walla. He was on his way to Vancouver, where he embarked for the Sandwich Islands, from whence he did not come back any more."
Mrs. Victor knew that if she accepted this latter statement it would make Mr. Smith leave in 1840, whereas he did not leave until 1841, so she puts in another year and lets him again try to cultivate the ground.
The fact was that, according to Mr. Spalding's journal of that time, which I now have, Mr. Smith had a garden in 1839, not waiting until 1840, as Mrs. Victor says, and he taught the Indians to cultivate the land, for the annual re- port of the American Board for 1843, says that at Kamiah, the station formerly occupied by Mr. Smith, but now vacant, a large addition has been made during the last year or two to the amount of land tilled by the Indians. This shows
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that at least they were not averse to cul- tivating the soil.
In March, 1884, I wrote Mr. Smith, asking him about the truth of this story, and in a letter dated April 16th, the same year, he replied: "In regard to the rep- resentations made concerning me to which you refer I can only say it is al- most entirely a fabrication. Ellis, the name mentioned, I had nothing to do with. I know not who is referred to by that name, unless it be a young Indian who had been at the Red River school, and proved to be a worthless fellow. I did hear of his stirring up the people against the missionaries, but he had nothing to do with the land where I was located, there were two petty chiefs- Hu-sin-me-la-kin and Um-tam-lai-a-kin -who claimed the land where I was. I never negotiated with them or any other . ones, in regard to the land. I went there with their knowledge, and according to their wish. There was no opposition to my plowing, or anything of the kind. All that story has not the shadow of truth in it. I went to Kamiah in the spring of 1839, plowed several acres the next spring, and raised a crop, without any opposition from any one. In the autumn of 1840 these two chiefs above mentioned came to me and demanded pay for the land. I refused to comply with the de- mand, when they ordered me to leave it. I told them I would go. Then they or- dered me to leave the next day. I told them, 'No, I will go when I get ready.' I accordingly wrote to Dr. Whitman and Mr. Spalding. Dr. Whitman was soon there, Mr. Spalding afterward .. Nothing special was done by them among the Indians; they talked it out among them- selves after the Doctor and Spalding were gone. These two chiefs found that all the other Indians were against them, and, so, after a few days, these two came and wished to take back what they had said. Then everything became quiet and we stayed through the winter. I might have continued, but my wife's health by this time had become such that it seemed absolutely necessary to make a change on her account."
Mr. Spalding's journal confirms the above facts in almost every particular. This was published in 1886, in the Se- attle Post-Intelligencer, a paper to which Mrs. Victor has access.
All that Mrs. Victor says on pages 24. 29 and following, about Mr. Parker's promising that ships loaded with Indian goods and agricultural implements, with which to pay them for their lands, rests on the same unreliable evidence of John Toupin, not written down at the time. nor until thirteen years after Mr. Park- er's visit.
I wish also to quote another sentence in the book-not to disprove it, but to show the style and animus of the author. On page 37 she speaks of the officers of the American Board at Boston as "high- ly-proper. clean-shaven, decorous Pres- byterians."
On page 31 I find: "Added to other trials, Dr. Whitman was worried by de- mands from the Home Board that the Oregon missions should be made self- supporting." I call for proof of this. While the Board may have hoped for such from their missions in due course of time, it never expected or demanded from them that they should be self-sup- porting during the early years of their existence, especially those located among the Indians. My father, an associate missionary of Dr. Whitman, never men- tioned such a request, and no record of the proceedings of the Board have ever been found that will substantiate the statement.
There is no evidence, as stated on page 32, that these missionaries expected to hold their "good homes" and receive large or any donations of land from the government in the event of treaties being made by it with the Indians. The mem- bers of the missions gave themselves to the work they sought to accomplish, and they knew that if their lands on which their missions were situated were alloted to any one, they would go to the Board. and not to themselves as individuals. This has been the policy of the Board wherever it established missions through- out the world.
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On page 35 is found, "Dr. Whitman, in his vexation with the Indians, before leaving for tlie states, threatened theni with bringing back many people to chas- tise them." I call for the proof! I have read everything I could find on the sub- ject of the Doctor's going east, published and in manuscript, and this is the first time I ever heard it intimated that he miade such, or any threat. Rev. Gus- tavus Hines, a pioneer missionary of 1840, who was well posted on the affairs of early Oregon, says in his "History of Oregon," that the Doctor went east "with the avowed intention of bringing back as many as he could enlist for Ore- gon," .but says nothing about a threat, and that is all that I have ever been able to find on the subject. Instead of this, subsequent to 1843, he explored a route from the foot of the Blue mountains to the mouth of the Umatilla river for the emigrants, so they would not pass his mission station, thus giving rise to possi- ble ill feelings against them by the Cay- uses, for crossing their lands.
At the top of page 36 is found: "His whole thought seemed to be now to re- pel Indian aggressions. Whatever ad- mirations he had at first felt for the ab- original character had been completely effaced by his experiences among them.' These statements are mere assertions without any proof, and are not true, and, consequently, the deduction in the sen- tence following, which says that "the set- tler in him was stronger than the mis- sionary," is also an untruth. For many years Mrs. Victor has tried to make Dr. Whitman out to be a deceitful, selfish man. Such assertions ought not to be in the pages of a history published under the auspices of the State of Oregon. That Dr. Whitman did much for it dur- ing its hours of infancy is beyond con- troversy, and he is deserving of at least fair treatment at the hands of the great commonwealth of which he was among the very first to lay its foundations deep and well.
On page 40 Mrs. Victor says: "First. That with the purest intentions, and with the best religious ideas of the times, the
Presbyterian missionaries of the upper country found it impossible to implant spiritual religion in the minds of the ab- original inhabitants of the earth. Sec- ond. That the influence of contact with savagery was to unspiritualize them- selves; to drive out of their minds con- fidence in the power of religion to change the nature of men in the low stage of their mental evolution." These conclu- sions are not true. Spiritual religion was implanted in the minds of some of the Spokanes, Nez Perces and Cayuses. See "Eells' Indian Missions," pages 63- 88, for proof. The lives of Messrs. Spalding, Walker and Eells, who lived in Oregon and Washington for many years thereafter, show that they were not un- spiritualized. They subsequently labored for the Master as faithfully as before, all among the whites, and Messrs. Spalding and Eells also labored among the Indi- ans. The third conclusion, "That the change this discovery made in them- selves, being preceived by the Indians, was a cause of displeasure to them, and of danger to the missionaries," is conse- quently false, and hardly worth noticing.
On page 98 mention is made of "nego- tiations which were then in progress for the sale of Waiilatpu to the Catholics." I nat thought is wholly from the author's imagination. There were never any "ne- gotiations in progress" or thought of, for the sale of the Doctor's station (Waiilatpu) to that denomination. There may have been, and probably were, ne- gotiations on the part of the Catholics to obtain some land from the Indians for a mission about three miles from Whitman's.
I deny, as asserted on page 160, "that the average Christian of that day was pledged in his own conscience to be a bigot," Mrs. Victor to the contrary, and it is certainly unfortunate for the State of Oregon that such language should re- ceive an indorsement through finding a place in a liistory published by it, thus defaming pioneer heroes and heroines to whom belongs the credit of much of what she is at the present time.
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On page 248 will be found, "By what arguments they (the Cayuse murderers) had been persuaded to give themselves up has never been revealed." I received from General Lane, on January 20, 1880, the following: "I carried on negotia- tions with the Cayuses in 1849 in a friendly manner, with the hope of getting them to surrender up the principal actors in the murder of Dr. Whitman, his wife and many others at Waiilatpu, without war. But told them that war upon them would be certain if they did not deliver up the guilty. They agreed at last, agreed to meet me near The Dalles in May, 1850, and as agreed, with Lieuten- ant Addison and ten soldiers of the rifle regiment, we met them, the principal chiefs and many warriors, and after a long talk with them, they delivered the
prisoners to me. We then, after taking our leave, left with our prisoners. The rest you know."
Readers of this pretended history will find on page 62 thereof, "Mr. Spalding determined to strengthen the hands of the agent (Dr. Elijah White), by receiv- ing thirty Nez Perce Indians into the church, and it was done May 14, 1843." There is not a particle of evidence to show that this was done "to strengthen the hands of the agent." These converts had been propounded for membership previously, and were received for the same reason that other persons were re- cived, and the presence or absence of the agent had no bearing whatever upon their admission as members of the church.
MYRON EELLS.
WARPED MULES.
The death of Capt. J. W. Kern, a pio- neer of 1853, calls to mind one of the stories he used to tell about the way the old ferries running across the river at Portland were operated.
"Oh, yes," said he, as a reminescent look came into his grey eyes, "many amusing things occurred in early times in Portland. By the way, were you a resident of the city when the Stark street ferry was propelled by huge sweeps or oars? No? Well then probably you come later on, when they used a great tread-wheel which revolved under the deck. Wern't here then? Why! Pshaw! man, you are a tenderfoot. Well, it was in the early 50's that the Knotts intro- duced this new-fangled machine to the traveling public. It is difficult to de- scribe, but was simply a large wheel that revolved, as I say, under the decks, pro- jecting out on each side several feet to admit of the horses or mules to tread the mill, as it were, on the outside of the guard rails. I tell you we were proud of this wonderful mechanism and we never expected to see an improvement made in this system of navigation. You see there were two mules, one on either side of the boat, each fastened in a curved
corral, treading away to make the old thing work. Well, these mules would become so warped that they were threat- ened with curvature of the spine. They really did become rights and lefts and it is said, although I didn't see this per- sonally, but have it from the very best authority, a farmer bought a span of these mules and when he hitched them with their concave sides to each other, they were constantly tripping each other up. At someone's suggestion he chang- ed them about. What do you think was the result? Why, although the farmer was taking a couple of Indian corpses some one had made up the river-home industry, you see-as I say, although he was taking these two "good Indians" out to Lone Fir to start a cemetery with, and was intending to go due east, I'll be blamed if these mules didn't describe a circle and walk right into the river and drown. You see they had on heavy chain harness and couldn't swim with such a load. But, you must excuse me, as this is Saturday and I haven't looked inside my Sunday school lesson leaf yet. Great institutions, these Sunday schools -always attend them, have done so from my boyhood."
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THE DALLES, OREGON, 1858.
Countless years before Johnathan Carver gave the word Oregon to the world, or made known the existence of the great river which bears the name of Captain Grey's good ship, the village of Winguath was a busy, thriving mart, where the Indian alone was to be seen.
During the long years that ante- dated the coming of the Americans, the red man dominated, fought, held and lost these river shores, where much of savage wealth was garnered. A history that contains much of interest was found about these bluffs, but fragments of which have filtered down through Indian traditions and legends to furnish a basis for the pencil of the present day histor- ian, who would write of the events of the dark days of Indian supremacy of the Northwest. Meagre as these tradi- tions are, and devoid of detail as they are generally found to be, they contain much that throws light upon the long period when the savage reigned supreme. He knew not books, but legend and tra- dition have in a measure taken the place of the more accurate pen, and by word of mouth a rude and incomplete ac- count of the most important events come down until they are obtained by the ever ready chroniclers of the present, to whom they are of more than ordinary in- terest, as the passing of the Indian is witnessed, and the extinction becomes the more certain.
Inseparately our young state's history is linked to the distant past by means of these legends. Their origin and pres- ervation becomes more and more a mat- ter of importance. It is yet within the memory of many of the older pioneers when Oregon was in its infancy. Many of these have passed away; those that re- main are counted fewer each succeeding year, and ere long the first epoch of the history of American Oregon will have been written.
Many places throughout the State re- tain their old Indian names. Thirteen of
the counties of the State are known by native names that are euphonious and pleasant to recall, rich as they are with memories of a past that is legendary and vague. It is to be regretted that in the haste and unreasoning endeavor of each unfledged community to form itself into a separate county organization that more of the old Indian names are not pre- served.
Of The Dalles before 1803 but little can be said with accuracy. A few legends giving the origin of the names, and some of the more important events that have been retained by tradition is practically all that can be gathered.
The Dalles, from an historical stand- point, is linked inseparably to the entire Northwest. No record of the first years of American occupation would be com- plete that did not recite the events that centered about the long rapids in the river. There it was that the Indians con- gregated for the purposes of trade, and, oftentimes, warfare. It was called Nin- guatt by the original Indians and Was- copum by the missionaries, who made the first settlement. From this word the contraction Wasco was applied to the entire country, and at the time of the or- ganization of the territorial government the county extended to the Rocky mountains.
The word Wasco is of ancient and peculiar origin. It means basin maker. Tradition has brought down a peculiar legend that established the name as that of a tribe of Indians.
The Wasco Indians became strong and . influential. They dominated the country from the great fishery, on the east, to the Wind mountain on the west. thus controlling the pass through the mountains, and were afterwards one of the strongest members of the great Willamette confederacy. which governed the Northwest until the fall of the great natural bridge at the
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Cascades signalled the overthrow of the imperial sway of the Willamettes.
The Wasco tribes did not retain a purity of either blood or purpose. Pos- sessing, as they did, the fishing grounds, Indians from the entire Northwest would asssemble at Ninquatt each year for trad- ing, fishing, gambling and other pur- poses. Here would come the squat Chinooks, the Canoe Indians from the Sound, with shells, wampum. camas, slaves from the north and articles com- mon to the coast and water-living tribes; the Willamette, with his superb bows and arrows tipped with flint, and robes of fur and skin; also the. rough-riding Cayuse and independent Yakima from across the open grass country of the north, south and east, to trade horses and race their fleetest ponies with those of opposing tribes. The Walla Wallas, Nez Perces, Spokanes, Okanagans, Klamaths, Klickitats and numbers of others from the entire extent of the Co- lumbia valley were wont to gather dur- ing the early summer, when the annual freshet brought the vast shoals of sal- mon to the falls, where they fell an easy prey to the spear and dip-net, and were dried and packed for the stable source of food during the winter months. Dur- ing these annual gatherings of the tribes a great market of the various commodi- ties of the several tribes was maintained. The Wascos became corrupted by the addition of worthless characters from other tribes, and deteriorated in moral tone from the pure minded and well-bred Indians of the legends, to the miserable band of thieves and sore-eved vagrants that Lewis and Clarke found at Wisham. and which were the source of such trouble and worry to the early voyageurs on the Columbia.
In 1805 the Lewis and Clarke expedi- tion encamped at Ninguatt. This is the first visit of white men. Later on the Astor expedition experienced no little difficulty in making this dangerous port- age and in dealing with the thieving na- tives
The camps of occasional travelers were the only visitations of white people
until 1820, when James Birnie. estab- lished a sub-post of the Hudson's Bay Company near the mouth of Mill Creek. This did not continue long. The hostili- ty of the savages rendered it unprofitable to maintain the post. Except for the oc- casional voyageur, all was as Indian and savage as in the days before the Colum- bia river was known. This condition of things continued until 1837, when Rev. Jasen Lee began the work of founding a missionary settlement. He called the place Wascopum. This was the begin- ning of civilization at The Dalles. The mission was called by the Indians "Per- kin's House." The buildings were situ- ated on the bluff. a short distance east of the site of the Wasco Academy build- ings, where outlines of the foundation of the principal building are yet to be seen. The missionaries did a great and good work among these savage and degraded people in teaching them habits of indus- try, and instilling the principles of Chris- tianity and morality in their minds. This outpost of civilization was maintained for more than ten years. Lee continued in the superintendency of the mission until 1844, when he was succeeded by Rev. Geo. Gary, who continued in charge until 1847. In that year Rev. William Roberts assumed control of the mission. It was the first permanent settlement made. This was during the period when the territory was claimed by both Eng- land and the United States. It was a project dear to the hearts of Lee and his associates to hold the country for the United States. Much credit is due them and the missionaries of the American Board, who, while endeavoring to dis- seminate the truths of the Gospel among the tribes, did not overlook the value of the country and its worth to the govern- ment of the Stars and Stripes.
In August, 1847, the Methodists trans- ferred the mission to Dr. Marcus Whit- man, the martyr of Waiilatpu. The Dalles was an important station to him. The Methodists were mostly occupied in the Willamette valley. As an act of Christian regard
the mission was transferred to the
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