USA > Washington > Spokane County > An illustrated history of Spokane county, state of Washington > Part 6
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* "Respecting the Indian character I will only say that I think a minister on his first acquaintance with them will be inclined to judge quite too favorably, and give an extravagant account of their readiness to receive the gospel. That error has been committed in this re- spect is very evident, but it should not be thought strange; for so great is the danger of being deceived that I am almost afraid to say anything on this point, even after being among them for over a year."-Pp. 94- 98, Father Eell's Life.
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HISTORY OF SPOKANE COUNTY.
been given to questions relating to numbers. They are passionately fond of music."
During the first year Mr. Eells traveled about sixteen hundred miles on horseback in the prosecution of his missionary labors. During the second year the number attending the school reduced materially. The winter of 1846-47 was a very severe one. Mrs. Eells writes, "The past winter has been the most se- vere in the memory of the oldest Indians. The snow began to fall about the middle of No- vember ; about the middle of December it was not far from two feet deep and it continued to increase to the first of March. For more than five months the earth was clothed in a robe of white; for more than three months we were literally buried in snow; all the west side of our house was banked to the roof and would have been dark only that the snow was shov- eled from the windows.
"Our meeting house was not opened from the 17th of January till the last Sabbath in March, and then Mr. Eells went on snow- shoes. Several Indians went to worship on the first Sabbath of April, but Mr. Eells went on horseback; sometimes it was so cold that the air cut like a knife and about the first of March we could not keep ourselves comforta- ble. From the middle of December until some time in April, men, women and children traveled on snow shoes outside of the every day beaten path. The extent of Mr. Eell's and Mr. Walker's traveling was to the Indian lodges and about a quarter of a mile to feed the horses and cattle ; it was only by unwearied labor and greatest economy in feeding that enough of our cattle and horses were saved for present use. Only one horse has died, but we have lost twelve cattle. We have, however, had an abundance of the necessaries of life, and more of its luxuries than has some- times fallen to our lot." During this winter nearly all the horses and cattle both of the In- dians and Hudson's Bay Company died, the lat- ter saving but three out of two hundred and
seventy horses. We have already referred to the departure of these missionaries after the Whitman massacre. Messrs. Walker and Eells' desire and purpose to return was so strong that they did not formally sever their connec- tion with the American Board for five years. Some of the Spokane Indians came to Oregon City in 1851, to obtain teachers. The mission had not been a great success as far as visible results were concerned, but faithful work had been done, accompanied by sincere prayer for God's blessing. The conservativeness of the missionaries was probably one reason why a church had not been organized and some of the Indians made members of the visible church. Subsequent evidences show that there were some among them who were really converted. After the departure of the missionaries. some of them assumed leadership as religious teach- ers, and Sabbath worship and daily worship were conducted in their lodges. Travelers. going through the country after the discovery of the Colville mines. testify that they found praying men among the Spokanes. Major P. Lugenbeel, who had command of United States fort Colville, and acted as Indian agent,. said in 1861 to Mr. Eells. "Those Indians of yours are the best Indians I ever saw. I wish you would go back and resume missionary op- erations among them." Mr. Eells came to Walla Walla in 1860. He improved the first opportunity to visit Tshimakain, which was in 1862. He spent a Sabbath on the old mission ground and a large number came from many miles to see and hear him. He was gratified by finding evidence that his work had not been in vain and that many of the Indians had ex- perienced the saving power of the truth and power of God. To follow the development of Protestant missionary operations among the Spokane Indians brings the name of Rev. Henry Harmon Spalding prominent. His work and that of Rev. H. T. Cowley seems to be the connecting link between foreign and home missionary work in this country.
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HISTORY OF SPOKANE COUNTY.
The labors of the Catholic Fathers is treat- ed separately.
Mr. Spalding and his wife, as already stat- ed, crossed the mountains the same time as Dr. and Mrs. Whitman. The journey is justly celebrated in history as the first ever made by white women across the Rocky mountains. "This alone was sufficient to make the name of Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. Spalding historic." Himes. Mr. Cowley, in an article in the Spokesman Review, says:
"In the midst of the wildest rumors, a dele- gation of three Spokanes made a visit in the spring of 1873 to the Lapwai agency and en- treated Rev. H. H. Spalding, the veteran Nez Perce missionary, to make a preaching tour in the Spokane country, as the natives were again hungering for instruction. Although old and feeble, and surrounded with many perplexities in his own field, he complied, and the month he spent in the Indian camps at the root grounds and fisheries distinctly allayed the excitement and reassured the scattered settlers. This re- sponse of Mr. Spalding's to the entreaties of the Spokanes was only a half loaf, measured by their eager desires for intelligence, but it produced a lasting impression upon their sus- ceptible minds. He returned to Lapwai in the heat of the July sun, in great bodily exhaustion, promising to make them a visit the following season. But he had made his last effort for the welfare of the red man, and in the summer of 1874 he passed to his final rest."
Dr. Eells testifies that Mr. Spalding bap- tized two hundred and fifty-three Spokanes at this time. Rev. H. T. Cowley came as an in- dependent missionary among the Spokanes in October. 1874. He did some teaching and preaching near his present home in a log build- ing erected by the Indians on Enoch's land and a few rods south of the N. P. depot. But the principal Indian mission was established near Deep Creek, where the Indians erected a log building 20x30 feet, but not a very comfortable place to spend the winter. Mr. Cowley contin-
tied his labors until the spring of 1878. The Indians had no special care from this time to 1882. On July 23, 1882. Rev. Deffenbaugh. missionary of the Presbyterian Board among the Nez Perces, visited the Spokane Indians. At Chief Lot's camp on the Little Spokane res- ervation, about fifty miles northeast of Spo- kane, he reorganized the Indian church. There were found to be sixty-four members of the Deep Creek church. During a series of meet- ings, the records state that thirty-five backslid- ers were reclaimed. At this time a licentiate was left in charge, an Indian educated by Miss Macbeth, Nez Perce mission, named Enoch Pond. He was succeeded by an Indian named S. H. Whitman. The Indians built a church of logs, covering it with weatherboards, 25x40 feet. Chief Lot put into the buildings twenty dollars and twenty-seven cayuses out of his in- come of ninety-six dollars a year. After a few years of experience with Indian preachers the chief requested that a white preacher be sent them. On October 25. 1894. a lady found her way alone to the Indians. She was Miss Ellen W. Clark. a native of Kensington, Que- bec. After teaching for several years and pur- suing a special course of study at the Moody school, Northfield, Massachusetts, she decided to devote hier life to labor among the Indians. Hearing of the Spokanes as neglected and de- siring a teacher. she found her way tothemand started at first an independent school at Chief Lot's camp which was soon adopted by the Woman's National Indian Association. Being an energetic and capable woman she did effect- ive work. The enrollment at the school reached as high as eighty. Miss Clark left this field last summer and went to the Neah Bay reserva- tion. There are two Indian churches and build- ings, one at Lot's camp known as Wellpennit. the other at the river near the agency. They are connected with the Spokane agency. The writer agrees with some others who have writ- ten on the subject that these upper Spokanes have not been treated by the government as
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HISTORY OF SPOKANE COUNTY.
well as they deserve. There are now about five hundred of them on the Little Spokane res- ervation. Rev. Robert Gow, a late missionary among them, testified thus, "The Indians here morally are superior to those of other tribes that I have seen. Compared with the white people their morality in some respects is also superior. They are, I should say, so far as .their knowledge goes as moral as any of us. There is not much drunkenness, they do not steal, they keep the Sabbath as well as they know how. If you were here some Sabbath day, either when celebrating the Lord's Supper, or upon any ordinary Sabbath, and see the in- terest manifested, the order and decency of the meeting, and hear the prayers, and see the tears as one after another rises and tells of sins con1- mitted and sorrows of heart, you would not ask for further evidence whether missionary work had been in vain." Some of these Indians prove themselves genuine Christians. They have the gift of public prayer to a remarkable degree. Miss Clark testified to the writer that she be- lieved Chief Lot and Enoch and Abraham as good Christians as she ever knew. Thomas Geary, the interpreter, one of Mr. Cowley's scholars, is spoken of as a man of real Chris- tian character.
Rev. D. D. Allen and wife are at present the Presbyterian missionaries on the Little Spokane reservation, and in a letter from Well- pinnit mission, dated January 6, 1900, writes :
"After the Wellpinnit church had been or- ganized, a log church building was erected, about 17x20 feet. It was afterwards extended to 34 feet. The congregations increased until this was not sufficient. Accordingly work was commenced on a new church building 30x40 feet. during the past summer. The Indians became very much interested in the new build- ing, and subscribed nearly six hundred dollars for the work, besides doing all the hauling, and perhaps nearly one hundred dollars worth of work on the building. The Indians have been nearly all settled on farms which they cul-
tivate, and have become almost entirely self- supporting. They are a peacable, industrious class of Indians. The church work is in quite a prosperous condition. The new church is. filled nearly every Sabbath. The church was beautifully decorated on Christmas, and a very pleasant entertainment was given that night, under the management of Mrs. D. D. Allen. The young men and women took great delight in being able to carry all the parts in the songs. Communion services were held on Sabbath, December 31. The services commenced on Friday morning and closed on Monday night with a young people's meeting. The church was packed at almost every service. The In- (lian ushers went about their work with as deft a hand as could be done in any white church. The Spirit of the Lord was truly present. Dur- ing the progress of the meetings fifty-seven persons came before the session-some to learn whether the offenses which they had committ- ed would debar them from the Lord's Supper, which they regard as a great privilege. There were twenty-four accessions to the church.
"Chief Lot said, he spent the first twelve years of his life without any clothing. When a treaty was entered into between the govern- ment and the Indians, Chief Lot chose, instead of an annuity, churches and schools. He wants his people to be educated that they may be all the same as the white people."
LOT ( WHISTLE POOSUM ), CHIEF OF THE LOWER SPOKANES.
"Lot, chief of the Spokanes, was so named by Rev. Eells, who established a Protestant mission church at what is now known as Walker's Prairie, forty miles north of Spo- kane. Lot is by far the most respected of any of the chiefs amongst all the trbes of In- dians in the Northwest. During the Indian troubles, he took the Rev. Mr. Eells from Walker's Prairie to Walla Walla with a trusted band of Indians, traveling by night and sleep- ing by day for fear of meeting hostiles. Lot
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HISTORY OF SPOKANE COUNTY.
was one of the band of chiefs who went to Washington, composed of Moses, Tomasket, and himself, to make a treaty for the cession of part of the lands from the Indians to the public domain. Fred Sherwood acted as in- terpreter. Moses, as the great war-chief. was first interviewed. He asked for a thousand dollars a year annuity ( which he still receives ), and annuities for his tribe. Tomasket asked for a school house and mills for his people, but Lot asked for a church and a schoolhouse that his young people might be taught the ways of the whites and the Christian religion as taught by Missionary Eells.
"There are several interesting reminis- cences about Lot while I was agent of the Colville reservation. The first Indian court was appointed by me, consisting of Whistle Poosom (Lot)., Sharchjockin ( Cornelus), and Red Bones, as judges. I will say that no court ever administered justice more impar- tially than that court. One day at the agency an Indian policeman came in with a prisoner who was the chief's son.
"I asked the young man what was the trouble and he said he had been accused of stealing another's wife, but that the accusation was false. He said his father was coming down the following day to try him. I told the policeman to turn the young man loose, when the prisoner said, no, his father had ordered him to be put in jail, and his father's orders must be obeyed and he wanted to go to jail. I told the policeman to put him in jail, where he remained till the next day, when his father, with two hundred of the tribe, came down to the trial.
"Upon hearing the evidence the court found the prisoner not guilty, the accusation having been brought about by idle talk. Lot, on that occasion, after his son was declared not guilty. made the following address to his people : 'I am the chief ; you are my people, you are my children. When you do wrong. it makes my heart sick ; when you do good it
makes my heart glad. But this boy is closer to me than all of you. He is my blood. my flesh, my child. When he does bad, my heart is very sad, when he does good my heart is glad. But Washington (the Government) placed me here as judge, and I forget that I am a father, I forget that he is my blood : all that I want to do is to do right and see that justice is carried out and the guilty punished." "
We are indebted for this interesting sketch to the courtesy of Major R. D. Gwydir, ex-Indian agent of Colville reservation, who has given us the privilege of the perusal of his unpublished manuscripts.
The extraordinary work which Rev. H. H. Spalding did among the Spokane Indians makes it fitting to give a sketch of his eventful life in this history. His life has been pub- lished during the last year in the Whitman College Quarterly, written by Rev. Myron Eells. D. D., the Indian missionary at Skoko- mish. We deem it advisable to give more space to deceased prominent persons than to those living.
Rev. H. H. Spalding was born on No- vember 26, 1803, at Prattsburg. New York. Being left an orphan in infancy. he was reared in a stranger's house, but was treated with ten- der care. His educational advantages till early manhood must have been meagre, for he was of age when he entered Franklin Acad- emy in his native town, where he became a member of the Presbyterian church. He worked his way through the academy and col- lege. His collegiate studies were pursued at Hamilton College, New York, and Western Reserve College, Hudson, Ohio, graduating in 1833. In October, of the same year, he united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Hart. a native of Berlin, Connecticut, a bright and conse- crated woman. They removed to Cincin- nati, where Mr. Spalding continued his studies in Lane Theological Seminary. They were appointed by the American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions as missionaries
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HISTORY OF SPOKANE COUNTY.
to the Osage Indians. After they had started in a sleigh over the deep snows of western New York, they were overtaken by Dr. Whit- man. The result was a change of plans and a decision on their part to go to Oregon.
Mrs. Spalding's health was such as to make the journey a great hardship. But her pluck and patience, fortitude and faith proved to be phenomenal and with her subsequent life of missionary labors, though brief, give her a place among the world's heroines. They reached their destination in due time. Before the end of the year 1836 they had established a mission at Lapwai. In August, 1837, Mr. Spalding made a trip to Fort Colville and preached near- ly every night on his way. He came in con- tact with the Spokane Indians and preached to them on this journey. His mission during the first year was a wonderful success. In the latter part of 1838 there was an exciting revival among the Indians. In May, 1839, was brought to this region the first printing press with some type and paper. It was brought from Honolulu by Mr. E. O. Hall. On this press was done the first printing on the Pacific coast, which was an eight-page pamphlet in the Nez Perce language. As early as 1845 Mr. Spalding had begun the translation of Genesis. In the same year a sawmill began operations. The work was continued at Lap- wai under fluctuating circumstances of en- couragement and discouragement until the Whitman massacre brought it to a sudden close. Like the other missionaries, he had to leave his
field and go to the Willamette valley. He made his home at Calapooya, near the present Brownsville, until he returned to his work. among the Indians. Mrs. Spalding died in Oregon in 1851. It was found that about one- third of the three thousand Nez Perce Indians. continued the practice of family or public wor- ship during his absence. Mr. Spalding was not able to resume his work until 1866 and not permanently till 1871. His last years of labor among the Nez Perces were fruitful ones. There was a great revival of religion among them. "He baptized six hundred and ninety- four Nez Perces and two hundred and fifty- three Spokanes. A chief of the Umatillas vis- ited Mr. Spalding to receive baptism on his- deathbed."-Eells. "Very peacefully and quietly without one struggle or moan he fell asleep in Jesus August 3, 1871, at the age of nearly seventy-one. and was buried at the mis- sion cemetery at Lapwai."
Says the Oregonian of August 22. 1874. in regard to Mr. Spalding: "He has been a noble, self-sacrificing laborer for the elevation of the Indians. Perhaps it is to his influence more than to any other single cause, that the Nez Perces are indebted for the distinction. they enjoy of being regarded as the most in- telligent and least savage of all our Indian tribes. Amid the grateful remembrance of those who came in after him to enjoy the blessings his sacrifices purchased, he rests from his labors, and his works do follow him."
CHAPTER VIII.
THE GENESIS OF AMERICAN HISTORY IN WASHINGTON.
The first American to settle north of the Columbia river, or in any of the territory now comprising the state of Washington-outside of missionaries-was Michael T. Simons. He immigrated to Oregon in 1844, and spent the first winter at Fort Vancouver. He is de- scribed as a stalwart Kentuckian, of splendid physique, great endurance, resolute mind, pos- sessing all the qualifications of a successful pioneer. His stay at the fort enabled him to understand the disposition of the officials of the Hudson's Bay Company relative to Ameri- can occupation of the northern country. He was doubtless convinced that it was their pur- pose to prevent, if possible, American settle- ment in that region. The desire to exclude American settlement was an evidence of the value of the country. This, with his patriotic spirit, prompted Mr. Simons to a determina- tion to find out all that he could about it. An attempt to explore the dense wilderness be- tween the Columbia river and Puget Sound was made by him and a few of his companions during the winter. In the summer of 1845 Mr. Simons made an extensive exploration of Puget Sound, and was impressed with the commercial value of the country. He selected a site for his future home at the head of Budd's Inlet, which is the most southern extension at the falls of Des Chutes river. In the fall he and others, seven in all, located on that spot. be- ginning the history of the permanent settlement of Washington by AAmericans. It was an heroic attempt, and they were brave men who did it.
They were among savages who gave no special evidence of hospitality, and separated by one hundred and fifty miles of dense forests from the nearest white settlers. But few were
added to their number during the first year. Within two years a sawmill was built at the falls of the Des Chute. In 1848 a few immi- grants settled along the Cowlitz river. Thomas W. Glasgow explored the Puget Sound as far north as Whitby Island, where he took a claim, being soon joined by several families. But the unfriendly disposition of the Indians necessitated the abandonment of their claims.
Several things retarded the progress of the occupation of this region, among them its iso- lation, the discovery of gold in California, and the brutal massacre of Dr. Whitman and others at Wai-il-at-pu. The scattered families spent several years amid great perils which could not have been endured by people of less bravery. They found the Indians as a rule hostile, and even threatening their extermination, but they met the Indian insolence with heroic defiance. This, with the timely and decisive measures of Governor Lance, the building of Fort Steila- coom, with the aid of some friendly Indians, saved them during these critical years and made American occupation permanent.
About the year 1850 many who had left for California at the outset of the gold excitement returned. Mr. Simons had been in San Fran- cisco and hadbrought with him a cargo of mer- chandise and opened a store at Olympia, which was the beginning of the first town in Wash- ington. Settlements began to extend. and Steilacoom came into existence, and soon Port Townsend. In 1851 a company of resolute pioneers, after much exploration, selected claims on Elliot Bay. Among these hardy men were some who exerted a potent influence dur- ing the formative periods of territory and state -Terry, Denny and others.
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HISTORY OF SPOKANE COUNTY.
The first attempt to establish a city on El- liot Bay was on Alki Point. The ambition and expectation of the founders is indicated in the name which they gave to their city, viz: New York. Some of them soon removed to the east side of the bay, and the information which they received from the Indians regarding the coun- try, especially relative to the accessibility of the region east of the Cascades, led them to estab- lish a rival city. They gave it the sonorous name of the chief. Seattle. Thus the name of an honorable, true and dignified Indian chief- tain has been perpetuated.
After this settlements extended. with in- creased rapidity. Many people of extraordin- ary intelligence and enterprise and sterling qualities came into the country.
We soon find milling and coal mining op- erations beginning. and in a few years the for- mer develops to immense proportions. At the same time the country to the south is develop- ing: the lower Chehalis valley, Cowlitz and Barker's bay, and down as far as the Columbia river. Attempts were made to establish great cities. So, at the close of 1852, we find in what was then known as northern Oregon, settle- ments from the Columbia river to British Co- lumbia and from the Cascade mountains to the Pacific coast. In this territory we find the towns of Olympia, Vancouver. Steilacoom, Seattle and Port Townsend, with an aggregate popu- lation of three thousand.
A resume of historical facts will lead us to consider briefly the circumstances and events leading to and connected with the
DIVISION OF TERRITORY.
Some of the earliest settlers north of the Columbia, probably cherished the laudable ambition of being the founders of a state. They were men of vision, and planned great things. We find that active measures looking toward separate political existence from Ore- gon were inaugurated as early as the 4th of July, 1851. Independence day was celebrated
at Olympia by those who had settled around the head of Puget Sound. Mr. J. B. Chapman. who was the orator of the day, took for his- theme "The Future State of Columbia," and treated it in an eloquent and stirring manner. The orator struck a sympathetic chord in the hearts of his hearers, and the appeal for prompt action had a ready response. During the day a committee on resolutions was appointed, who. in its report, recommended that representatives of all the districts north of the Columbia river meet in convention at Cowlitz Landing. for the purpose, as expressed. "of taking into careful consideration the peculiar position of the north- ern portion of the Territory, its wants, the best method of supplying those wants, and the pro- priety of an early appeal to Congress for a divi- sion of the Territory."
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