History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I, Part 21

Author: Lyman, William Denison, 1852-1920
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: [Chicago] S.J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 1134

USA > Washington > Benton County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I > Part 21
USA > Washington > Kittitas County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I > Part 21
USA > Washington > Yakima County > History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I > Part 21

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"In their slow progress, these persons have encountered, as in all former instances, and as all succeeding emigrants must if this or some similar bill be not passed by Congress, the continual fear of Indian aggression, the actual loss through them of horses, cattle and other property, and the great labor of trans- porting an adequate amount of provisions for so long a journey. The bill here- with proposed would, in a great measure, lessen these inconveniences by the establishment of posts, which, while having the power to keep the Indians in check, thus doing away with the necessity of military vigilance on the part of the travelers by day and night, would be able to furnish them in transit with fresh supplies of provisions, diminishing the original burdens of the emigrants, and finding thus a ready and profitable market for their produce, a market that would, in my opinion, more than suffice to defray all the current expenses of such posts. The present party is supposed to have expended no less than $2,000 at Laramie's and Bridger's forts, and as much more at Fort Hall and Fort Boise, two of the Hudson's Bay Company's stations. These are at present

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the only stopping places in a journey of 2,200 miles, and the only place where additional supplies can be obtained, even at the enormous rate of charge, called mountain prices, i. e., $50 the hundred for flour and $50 the hundred for coffee ;. the same for sugar, powder, etc.

"Many cases of sickness and some of death took place among those who accomplished the journey this season, owing, in a great measure, to the unin- terrupted use of meat, salt and fresh, with flour, which constitute the chief articles of food they are able to convey on their wagons, and this could be obviated by the vegetable productions which the posts in contemplation could very profitably afford them. Those who rely on hunting as an auxiliary sup- port, are at present unable to have their arms repaired when out of order ; horses and oxen become tender footed and require to be shod on this long journey,. sometimes repeatedly, and the wagons repaired in a variety of ways. I men- tion these as valuable incidents to the proposed measure, as it will also be found! to tend in many other incidental ways to benefit the migratory population of the United States choosing to take this direction, and on these accounts, as well' as for the immediate use of the posts themselves, they ought to be provided? with the necessary shops and mechanics, which would at the same time exhibit the several branches of civilized art to the Indians.

"The outlay in the first instance would be but trifling. Forts like those of the Hudson's Bay Company, surrounded by walls enclosing all the buildings, and constructed almost entirely of adobe, or sun-dried brick, with stone founda- tions only, can be easily and cheaply erected.

"Your familiarity with the Government policy, duties, and interest, render it unnecessary for me to more than hint at the several objects intended by the. enclosed bill, and any enlargement upon the topics here suggested as induce- ments to its adoption would be quite superfluous, if not impertinent. The very existence of such a system as the one above recommended suggests the utility" of postoffices and mail arrangements, which it is the wish of all who now live in Oregon to have granted them; and I need only add that contracts for this purpose will be readily taken at reasonable rates for transporting the mail across from Missouri to the mouth of the Columbia in forty days, with fresh horses at each of the contemplated posts. The ruling policy proposed regards the Indians as the police of the country, who are to be relied upon to keep the peace, not only for themselves, but to repel lawless white men and banditti, under the solitary guidance of the superintendents of the several posts, aided by a well-directed system to induce the punishment of crime. It will only be after the failure of these means to procure the delivery for punish- ment of violent, lawless and savage acts of aggression, that a band or tribe should be regarded as conspirators against the peace, or punished accordingly by force of arms.

"Hoping that these suggestions may meet your approbation, and conduce to the future interest of our growing country, I have the honor to be, Honorable Sir.

"Your obedient servant,

"MARCUS WHITMAN."

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It may be added that Whitman was so thoroughly interested in the idea of the line of forts across the continent that he wrote another communication to. the Secretary of War from Waiilatpu in 1847, October 16th, only about six weeks before his murder, setting forth with similar force and clearness the wisdom of such a system.

During the four years that followed the coming of the "Great Immigration" the mission at Waiilatpu was a center of light and help to the incoming immi- grations. Many incidents have been preserved showing the industry, fortitude, and open-handed philanthropy of the Whitmans. The earlier immigrations usually stopped at Waiilatpu, coming across the country in the vicinity of the present location of Athena or Weston and down Pine Creek to the Walla Walla. The immigrants were always short of provisions and generally had no money. To have a stock of provisions at all equal to emergencies put a tremendous strain on Doctor Whitman, and nobly did he meet the needs. Among many instances of the helping hand of the missionaries are two given in Eells' life of Whitman, which we give as illustrative of many that might be given.

"Among the immigrants of 1844 was a man named Sager, who had a family consisting of his wife and seven children, between the ages of infancy and thirteen. The father died of typhoid fever on Green River, and the mother sank under her burdens when she reached Snake River, and there died. The immigrants cared for the children until they reached Doctor Whitman's, but would take them no farther. The Doctor and his wife took the strangers in at first for the Winter, but afterward adopted them and cared for them as long as they lived.

MRS. PRINGLE ON WHITMAN.

"Mrs. C. S. Pringle, one of these children, afterwards gave the following account of this event. It was written in answer to a charge made by Mrs. F. F. Victor that the Doctor was mercenary, making money out of the immi- grants : "In April, 1844, my parents started for Oregon. Soon after starting we were all camped for the night, and the conversation after awhile turned upon the probability of death before the end of the journey should be reached. All told what they would wish their families to do in case they should fall by the way. My father said: 'Well, if I should die, I would want my family to stop at the station of Doctor Whitman.' Ere long he was taken sick and died, but with his dying breath he committed his family to the care of Captain Shaw, with the request that they should be left at the station of Doctor Whitman. Twenty-six days after his death his wife died. She, too, requested the same. When we were in the Blue Mountains, Captain Shaw went ahead to see about leaving us there. The Doctor objected, as he was afraid the board would not recognize that as a part of his labor. After a good deal of talk he consented to have the children brought, and he would see what could be done. On the 17th day of October we drove up to the station, as forlorn a looking lot of children as ever was. I was a cripple, hardly able to walk, and the babe of six months was dangerously ill. Mrs. Whitman agreed to take the five girls, but the boys must go on (they were the oldest of the family). But the ‘mer- cenary' Doctor said, 'All or none.' He made arrangements to keep the seven

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until Spring, and then if we did not like to stay, and he did not want to keep us, he would send us below. An article of agreement was drawn up in writing between him and Captain Shaw, but not one word of money or pay was in it. I had it in my possession for years after I came to the (Willamette) Valley, having received it from Captain Shaw. Before Captain Shaw reached The Dalles he was overtaken by Doctor Whitman, who announced his intention of adopting the seven, on his own responsibility, asking nothing of the Board for maintenance. The next Summer he went to Oregon City and legally became our guardian, and the action is on the records of Clackamas County. Having done this, he further showed his 'mercenary' nature by disposing of our father's estate in such a way that he could not realize a cent from it. He exchanged the oxen and old cows for young cows, and turned them over to the two boys to manage until they could grow to manhood; besides this, he gave them each a horse and saddle, which, of course, came out of his salary, as we were not mission children, as were the three half-breeds that were in the family. After doing all this he allowed the boys opportunities to accumulate stock by work or trade. Often he has said to us, 'You must all learn to work, for father is poor and can give you nothing but an education. This I intend to do to the best of my ability.'

"Another incident with an immigrant is here related, given almost in the words of the narrator, Joseph Smith, who came to the country in 1846. He says: I was mighty sick crossing the Blues, and was so weak from eating blue mass that they had to haul me in the wagon till we got to Doctor Whit- man's place on the Walla Walla River. Then mother Whitman came and raised the wagon cover and says, 'What is the matter with you, my brother ?' 'I am sick, and I don't want to be pestered much, either.' 'But, but, my young friend. my husband is a doctor, and can probably cure your ailment ; I'll go and call him.' So off she clattered, and purty soon Doc came, and they packed me in the cabin, and soon he had me on my feet again. I eat up a whole band of cattle for him, as I had to winter with him. I told him I'd like to work for him, to kinder pay part of my bill. Wall, Doc, set me to making rails, but I only made two hundred before Spring, and I got to worryin' 'cause I hadn't only fifty dollars and a saddle horse, and I reckoned I owed the Doctor four or five hundred dollars for my life. Now, maybe I wasn't knocked out when I went and told the Doctor I wanted to go on to Webfoot, and asked him how we stood; and the Doctor p'inted to a cayuse pony, and says, 'Money I have not, but you can take that horse and call it even, if you will.'"

It is worth noticing that, though Mr. Smith says "Mother" Whitman, she was only thirty-eight at the time.

But at that time, the very year of the final consummation of the great work of Whitman, the treaty of 1846, giving Oregon up to lat. 49° to the United States, a consummation which must have made the brave hearts of the heroic pair thrill with joy and gratitude, the shadow was approaching, the end was near. The crown of heroism and service must be still further crowned with martyrdom.

Ever since the death of little Alice, the Indians at Waiilatpu had seemed to lose in growing measure the personal interest which they had manifested.

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With the coming of constantly growing immigrations and the apparent eager- ness of the Whites to secure land, the natives felt increasing suspicion.

The more thoughtful of them, especially those who had been in the "States" and had seen the countless numbers of the "palefaces," began to see that it was only a question of time when they would be entirely dispossessed. Again, the unavoidable policies of the Hudson's Bay Company were hostile to the American settler. While individually the officers of the Company were as kind and courteous to the missionaries as men well could be, and were helpful to them in their religious labors, it was a different matter when it came to settlers swarming into the country with the Stars and Stripes at the head of wagon trains and with the implements of husbandry in their hands. The Indians were predisposed, for many reasons, to side with the Company. With it they did their trading. It maintained the wild conditions of the country. The French-Canadian voyageurs and coureurs des bois were much kinder and more considerate of the Indians than the Americans, and intermarried with them. Besides those general causes of hostility to the Americans, there were certain specific events during that period of doubt and suspicion which brought affairs to a focus and precipitated the Whitman Massacre. Some have believed that the murder of "Elijah" (as the Whites called him), the son of Peupeumoxmox, the chief of the Walla Wallas, apparently a fine, manly young Indian, was a strong contributory cause. The young brave had gone to California in 1844, and while near Sutter's Fort had become involved in a dispute with some white settlers and had been brutally murdered. The old chief, Peupeumoxmox, had brooded over this dastardly deed and though there is no evidence that he had any part in the Massacre there was deep resentment among the Indians of the Walla Walla Valley and no doubt many of them were in the mood to apply the in his medicine chest, two Indians who seem to have been leaders in the plot usual Indian rule that a life lost demanded a life in payment. Apparently the most immediate influence leading to the Massacre was due to an epidemic of measles which swept the valley in 1847. Doctor Whitman was indefatigable in ministering to the sick, but many died. The impression became prevalent among the Indians that they were the victims of poison. This idea was nurtured in their minds by several renegade Indians and half-breeds, of whom Lehai, Tom Hill, and Jo Lewis were most prominent.

Seeing the gathering of clouds about the mission and the many warning indications, Doctor Whitman had taken up the project of leaving Walla Walla and going to The Dalles, a point where he had in fact at first wished to locate, but had been dissuaded by the Hudson's Bay officials.

THE WHITMAN MASSACRE

The story of the Massacre has been many times told and may be found in many forms. We can but briefly sketch its leading events. Mr. Spalding of Lapwai was temporarily at Waiilatpu and on November 27, 1847, he and Doctor Whitman went to the Umatilla in response to a request for medical attention. Feeling uneasy about affairs at home, Doctor Whitman returned the next day, reaching Waiilatpu late at night. On the day following, the 29th, while engaged

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approached him and while one, Tilaukait, drew his attention by talking, the other, Tamahas, struck him with a tomahawk. He fell senseless, though not yet dead. Jo Lewis seems to have directed the further execution of the cruel conspiracy and soon Mrs. Whitman, shot in the breast, fell to the floor, though not dying for some time. She was the only woman slain. There were in all, fourteen victims of their dreadful attack. Several escaped, Mr. Spalding, who was on his way back from the Umatilla, being one of them. After several days and nights of harrowing suffering he reached Lapwai. There were forty-six survivors of the Massacre, nearly all women and children. It is generally supposed that they were subjected to cruelty and outrage worse than death, though some of the survivors deny this. They were ransomed by Peter Skeen Ogden of the Hudson's Bay Company, and transported to the Wil- lamette Valley. The full story of the war which follows belongs in the Chapter on Indian Wars. So ended in darkness, but not in shame, the mission at Waiilatpu. The peaceful spot six miles west of Walla Walla, in the midst of the fair and fruitful valley, is marked with a granite monument on the summit of the hill and a grave at the foot. There the dust of the martyrs rests in a plain marble crypt upon the surface of which appear their names. It is indeed one of the most sacred spots in the Northwest, suggestive of patriotism, devo- tion, self-sacrifice, suffering, sorrow, tragedy, and final triumph. In November, 1916, the remains of W. H. Gray and Mary Dix Gray, his wife, were removed from Astoria and placed by the side of the grave at Waiilatpu. As associates from the first, of the Whitmans, and engaged in the same arduous struggle for the establishment of civilized and Christian institutions in this beautiful wild- erness, they are fittingly joined with them in their final resting place.

By reason of priority in time as well as its connection with immigration and public affairs, and also its tragic end, and perhaps too the controversies that have arisen in connection with it, the Whitman Mission has secured a place in history far more prominent than that of any other, either east or west of the Cascade Mountains. But it should not be forgotten that within a short time after the incoming of white settlers, all the leading churches sent missionaries into the Northwest both for the Indians and whites. Next in point of time after the Methodist missions of the Willamette Valley and the Presbyterian and Congregationalist missions of the upper Columbia and Snake Rivers, came the Catholic. It should be understood that in speaking of that church as third in time we speak of the era of the beginnings of settlement. For it should be remembered that there had been visiting Catholic priests among the Hudson's Bay posts long prior to the coming of Jason Lee, the first of the Protestants. The French-Canadians were almost universally of Catholic rearing, and the officers of the company encouraged the maintenance of religious worship and instruction according to the customary methods. There were not, however, any regular permanent Catholic missions until a little after the Protestant missions already described.

The inauguration of regular mission work by the Catholic Church grew out of the establishment of a settlement at Champoeg on the Willamette by Doctor McLoughlin during the years from 1828 on. Quite a little group of re- tired Hudson's Bay Company men, French-Canadians with Indian wives and

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half-breed children, had become located on the fertile tract still known as French Prairie. So well had the settlement thrived that in 1834, the year of the arrival of Jason Lee in the same neighborhood, an application was made to Doctor Provencher, vicar apostolic of Hudson Bay, to send a clergyman to that point. A church was built in 1836, the first church building in Oregon. Not till 1837 could the request for a visit from a minister to Oregon be fulfilled. In that year, Rev. Modeste Demers went to the Red River, and the following year, in company with Rev. Francis N. Blanchet, resumed the journey to Oregon.

In the progress of their journey they stopped at Walla Walla for a day. Reaching Vancouver on November 24, 1838, they entered with zeal and devo- tion upon their task of ministering to both whites and Indians. Remaining at Vancouver till January, 1839, Father Blanchet started on a regular course of visitations, going first to the settlement on the Willamette where there were twenty-six Catholic families and where the people had already constructed a chapel. Next he visited Cowlitz Prairie, where there were four families. These stations were of course outside of the scope of the present work, but reference to thein indicates the time and place and manner of starting the great series of Catholic missions which soon became extended all over Oregon.

While Father Blanchet was at Cowlitz, his fellow worker, Demers, estab- lished mission work at Fort Nisqually. In the Summer of 1839 he made an ex- tended tour of the upper Columbia region. In the course of this he visited Walla Walla, Okanogan, and Colville, starting work among the Indians by baptizing their children. From that time on Father Demers or some one of the Jesuit priests made annual visits to those stations adding children by bap- tism each year.

In the meantime another of the most important of the Catholic mission- aries, and the one to whom the world is indebted for one of the best histories of Oregon missions, was on his way. This was Rev. Father Pierre J. De Smet. In March, 1840, he set out for Oregon from the St. Joseph Mission at Council Bluffs, journeying by the Platte River route. On June 25th he reached Green River, long known as a rendezvous of the fur traders.

There he held Mass for the trappers and Indians. Referring to this in a subsequent letter he writes thus: "On Sunday the fifth of July, I had the con- solation of celebrating the Holy Sacrifice sub dio. The altar was placed on an elevation, and surrounded with boughs and garlands of flowers; I addressed the congregation in French and in English and spoke also by an interpreter to the Flatheads and Snake Indians. It was a spectacle truly moving for the heart of a missionary to behold an assembly composed of so many different nations who all assisted at our holy mysteries with great satisfaction. The Canadians sang hymns in French and Latin, and the Indians in their native tongue. It was truly a Catholic worship. The place has been called since that time, by the French-Canadians, la prairie de la Messe."

After a week at the Green River rendezous, Father De Smet with his Indian guides resumed the journey westward by way of the Three Tetons to the upper waters of Snake River. While at Henry Lake he climbed a lofty peak from which he could see in both directions and while there he carved on a stone the words: "Sanctus Ignatius, Patronus Montium, Die Julii 23, 1840."

CATHOLIC MISSION ESTABLISHED IN 1851

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That was as far west as Father De Smet went at that time. After two months among the Flatheads about the head of Snake River he returned to St. Louis in the last part of the year. One point of interest in connection with this return, as showing the disposition of the Indians to seek religious instruction, is that a certain Flathead chief named Insula who accompanied Father De Smet to St. Louis, had gone to Green River in 1835 to meet missionaries. It is stated by Rev. Father E. V. O'Hara in his valuable "Catholic History of Oregon" that Insula was much disappointed to find not the "blackgowns" as he had ex- pected, but Doctor Whitman and Doctor Parker on their reconnaissance. It is probably impossible to determine just what distinction between different de- nominations of Christians may have existed in the Indian mind, but it may be recalled that Whitman and Parker, while at Green River, deemed the outlook so encouraging that they decided that Whitman should return to the States for reinforcements, while Parker went on with the Indians and made an extensive exploration of the entire Oregon country.

Father De Smet returned to the Flathead mission in 1841 and in 1842 pro- ceeded to Vancouver by way of the Spokane. In the course of the journey he visited all the principal Indian tribes in the Kootenai, Pend Oreille, Coeur d'Alene, Spokane and Walla Walla countries. Returning to the east after twenty-five months of missionary service in Oregon and then spending some time in Europe, he returned with quite a reinforcement in the ship L'Infatigable in 1844 The ship was nearly wrecked on the Columbia River bar, and of the experience De Smet gives a peculiarly vivid description. He deemed the final safe entrance due to special interposition of Divine Providence on account of the day, July 31st, being sacred to St. Ignatius.

Father De Smet was a vivid and interesting writer and a zealous mission- ary. He greatly overestimated the number of Indians in Oregon, placing them at a hundred and ten thousand and in equal ratio estimated the converts at numbers hardly possible except by the most sweeping estimates.

The Catholic missions were gradually extended until they covered points in the entire Northwest. The Bishop of Oregon was Rev. Francis N. Blanchet who was located near Salem. In 1845 and 1846 he made an extensive tour in Canada and Europe for the purpose of securing reinforcements. As a result of his journey and the action of the Holy See the Vicariate was erected into an Ecclesiastical Province with the three sees of Oregon City, Walla Walla, and Vancouver Island. Rev. A. M. A. Blanchet was appointed Bishop of Walla Walla, and Father Demers Bishop of Vancouver Island, while Bishop F. N. Blanchet was promoted to the position of Archbishop of Oregon City.

Bishop A. M. A. Blanchet reached Fort Walla Walla on September 5, 1847, having come with a wagon train by the usual emigrant road from St. Louis. This might be regarded as the regular establishment of Catholic missions in Walla Walla. The Bishop was accompanied to Walla Walla by four Oblate Fathers of Marseilles and Father J. B. A. Brouillet as Vicar General, and also by Father Rousseau and William Leclaire, Deacon. Bishop Blanchet located among the Umatilla Indians at the home of Five Crows. The mission was fairly established only a few days prior to the Whitman Massacre. Bishop Blanchet went to Oregon City after the massacre and by reason of the Indian war he

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History of the Yakima Valley, Washington; comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties, Vol. I, Part 21

Author: Lyman, William Denison, 1852-1920 Publication date: 1919 Publisher: [Chicago] S.J. Clarke Number of Pages: 1134

Author: Lyman, William Denison, 1852-1920
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: [Chicago] S.J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 1134