USA > Washington > Spokane County > Spokane > History of the city of Spokane and Spokane County, Washington : from its earliest settlement to the present time, Volume I > Part 13
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Mission work among the Indians was practically suspended that dreary win- ter. The meeting house was closed from the 17th of January to the last Sunday in March, and even then Mr. Eells went on snowshoes to open it. It was so cold the first of March that the air cut like a knife, and even at that late date in win- ter the missionaries found it hard to keep comfortable in their cabin homes, not- withstanding fuel was abundant and they heaped high the supply on the broad fireplaces.
"From the middle of December till well into April men, women and children traveled on snowshoes. With great difficulty Mr. Walker and Mr. Eells fed their horses and cattle, but by ceonomizing in feeding they saved all their horses but one, though twelve of their cattle died of starvation. "We have. however," wrote Mrs. Bells, "had an abundance of the necessaries of life, and more of its luxuries than has sometimes fallen to our lot." Measured by present day standards of luxurious living, few indeed must have been their luxuries that winter at Tshima- kain.
The Indians suffered heavy losses of live stock. Notwithstanding the men and women spent a great part of their time clearing away snow so that their ani- mals could get at the frozen bunch-grass, nearly all their horses died before the last of January. With the beginning of winter the Spokane chief had seventy borses and thirty cattle. But with the tardy coming of spring he had lost every
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horse and all but two of his cattle. "The Indians generally had from one to ten horses," wrote Mrs. Eells, "but all alike are now on foot. I do not know of half a dozen live ones in all this region belonging to the Indians. They had nearly forty cattle which they had obtained through our instrumentality; there are only three or four left. A band of sixteen cattle belonging to the Bay Indians was sent to the Spokane river to winter; only one of them now is alive.
"At Colville the Hudson's Bay company had 270 horses; by April only three were alive. Every one of another band of eighty horses belonging to a single man is dead. The horses of the Indians in that region, and also of the Bay Indians further north, are all dead. At Colville some of the cattle froze to death stand- ing."
At Tshimakain they took little heed of the New York or Paris fashions; and there were no new bonnets for Easter Sunday. About that time, acknowledging the gift of a shawl which had been sent around the Horn by eastern friends, Mrs. Eells wrote: "Mrs. Walker and I had each our red merino shawls that we wore in the States (nine years previous) and our plaids are pretty good, though they have been washed several times, and we concluded to send the shawl to Mrs. Whit- man, as we were pretty sure she had none. She has since sent back many thanks, as she was destitute." Think upon this heroie aet of self-abnegation, ye pampered sisters of the twentieth century; think of this when all the world seems dark and dreary under that last summer's creation in Parisian millinery.
That same box of Massachusetts luxuries brought several pairs of shoes for the children, the very first their youthful eyes had ever fallen upon. They had always worn moccasins, and in winter were obliged to stay in the house or have wet feet.
"Edwin and Myron think very much of the books sent them last fall," wrote the faithful mother with grateful heart. "I think they learn books very well, but they can never know the noble, exhilarating feeling there is connected with going to worship in a good meeting-house, where they can understand what is said, or to a good school with others of their own age. But I have no doubt the Lord will take care of them if we do our duty." Oh, that severe New England training of five and seventy years ago! Has it forever vanished from our midst? Have we grown into better things, with all the wealth of luxury and case that came with the locomotive and the electric wire, or have we fallen upon degenerate days. that the confidences of this time-stained journal, penned, oh, so long ago, at lonely Tshimakain, sound quaint and peculiar to ears grown wiser in the brilliant light of the twentieth century?
But those Mission mothers were practical withal. "Last year and the year before we had milk, so that we made a few small cheeses. Just to prove how neces- sity can invent new ways when the old ones are not at hand, I will tell you how we went to work. At first, I believe, Mrs. MeDonald of Fort Colville. gave us a little rennet, but we could bring no curd with it. Then Dr. Whitman gave us a little beef's rennet, but we succeeded no better with it. At last Mrs. Walker thought that perhaps young deer's rennet would do, so after a while an Indian brought us one which we tried, and it did well. But perhaps you will say, Why did you not have calves' rennet? Because a general feeling has prevailed that calves should not be killed.
SPOKANE AND THE INLAND EMPIRE
"Now for the cheese basket and tongs, and something to dress it with. The first named utensil we did without. We succeeded in getting a two-gallon keg sawed in two, which served for hoops, and at first we pressed with stones and bags of musket balls. Last year Mrs. Walker made herself a lever which saved her strength some, but I did not try anything new."
This Mrs. MeDonald, who goes into history as a charter member of the Colum- bia Maternal association, collector of mineral specimens and assistant in the first cheese-making establishment in the Inland Empire, was an Indian woman, but according to Mr. Eells. "a jewel of rare excellence, intelligent, and her numerous children were a living testimony to her maternal efficiency."
CHAPTER X
MISSIONS DESTROYED AND ABANDONED
MISSIONARIES ILL AND DISCOURAGED-WHITMAN MASSACRE BRINGS TERROR TO TSHI- MAKAIN-FAITHFUL SPOKANES REMAIN LOYAL-MISSIONARIES FLEE TO COLVILLE- GRAPHIC REMINISCENCE OF EDWIN EELLS-A THRILLING MOMENT-SPOKANES RALLY TO DEFENSE OF THEIR TEACHERS-CAYUSES SEND OUT LYING RUNNERS-OREGON VOLUNTEERS COME TO ESCORT MISSIONARIES TO WILLAMETTE VALLEY-PATHETIC FAREWELL ON THE SPOKANE-"OUR HEARTS WEEP TO SEE YOU GO."
T HE long hard winter of 1846-47 left the mission colony depressed in spirit and some of them bodily ill. It had been particularly trying to Mrs. Eells. They were discouraged, and frankly confessed that their work had been dis- appointing in results. Indian interest, both in church and school, had fallen off, and reactionary spirits among the Spokanes taunted the teachers, and challenged them to point out what benefits they had brought to the Indians. A few remained faithful, and in a way zealous, but not one had shown sufficient change of heart, ac- cording to the severe theologieal tests of the times, to warrant his admission to the church or to become a partaker of the sacrament.
Before the Whitman massacre in November, 1817. abandonment of the Spokane mission had practically been agreed upon. The Methodists were closing their Ore- gon missions, and Dr. Whitman bought their establishment at The Dalles. It was planned that Spalding should give up his work among the Nez Perces at Lapwai and join Whitman at Waiilatpu. Walker was to go from to Tshimakain to The Dalles ; and Eells was to move to Dr. Whitman's, and engage in winter work for the benefit of the whites, many of whom were now settling in Oregon, while his summers were to be given up to itinerating work among the Indians. But man proposes and God disposes. Mr. Walker's ill health detained him at Tshimakain, and it seemed im- prudent for Mr. Eells to leave him alone among the Spokanes. And for some rea- son Spalding lingered. too, at Lapwai, and thus several lives were saved from the frightful fate that befell Dr. and Mrs. Whitman.
After the massaere, futile efforts were made by the Cayuse Indians to induce the Spokanes to slay their teachers at Tshimakain. A number of Indians from the Spokane country had gone down into the Willamette valley and taken employment under the white settlers. The Cayuses sent false reports to the Spokanes that the white people in Oregon, in retaliation for the Whitman massacre. had killed sixty of these Indians from the Spokane region. Mr. Eells went to the chief of the Spokanes and gave him assurance that the report was false. "Believe not the message." he declared : "it is not the way the Americans do."
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"Avoid being out after dark," counseled the chief. "I and my people are friendly, but some lurking Cayuses may try to kill you and throw suspicion on us. Make the door fast : place a strong shutter over the window. If there is a call for admittance, delay : make inquiry. By the dialcet of the person at the door you will know from what band he comes-whether from those well or evil disposed."
It was a time to try the souls of the bravest, but the faithful Spokanes remained stanch, and the missionaries had faith in their loyalty.
"Soon after the massaere," says Myron Eells in his biography of Father Eells, "the government of Oregon raised volunteers, chiefly in the Willamette valley, who chastised the Cayuses, built Fort Waters at Dr. Whitman's station, and drove the Indians out of their own country nearly half way to Tshimakain. This brought the enemy so near that there seemed to be more danger than before, and Mr. Walker went to Fort Colville about the first of March to consult with Mr. Lewes, in charge there, as to their safety."
"Remain quiet at the mission as long as you can." replied Lewes. "If you become convinced of real danger, come to my fort, and I will protect you equally with myself and family."
Confronted with the possibility of losing their teachers, the Spokanes now ex- hibited the most earnest evidences of friendship. They were ready, they affirmed, to go to war with the Cayuses.
"But the hostile camp was now only about sixty miles from Tshimakain," says Myron Rells, "and it began to seem unsafe to stay any longer. Mr. Walker and Mrs. Eells were constitutionally timid and wished to leave. Mrs. Walker had strong nerves, but her six children made her cautions. She was on an even poise. Mr. Eells was not satisfied that there was danger enough to render it necessary to move; but he alone anchored the fourteen persons there, and the responsibility was too great. It was decided to leave for Fort Colville. So happy were the timid ones at this, that notwithstanding that it rained when they started, and their first camp was in the snow, and they did not reach Colville until the fourth day, yet the move was made without a murmur. The next week Messrs. Walker and Bells and Edwin Eells, then six years old, returned to Tshimakain to look after what was left."
Edwin Eells. in a recent article in the Sunday Spokesman-Review, tells, in graphic reminiscence of that return to the abandoned mission :
"On the Sabbath following our arrival at our now desolate home, about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, while sitting quietly in our house. we heard an unusual noise. My father went to the door and listened. He shut it quickly, fastened it and went into the back yard, where we mounted a table standing there. from which we could look over the picket fort fence that surrounded us, and listened.
"Off in the woods, a mile away, were Indians coming, heralding their approach with the Indian warwhoop. Nearer and nearer, and louder and londer came the sound. The cold chills ran down my back. I felt as though my hair was standing up under my cap. and I said: 'Father, father, what is it? What is it?' He was too intent to answer me.
"At length they came out into the open prairie, half a mile distant. There were a score of them or more, with faces painted, feathers in their hair, bows and arrows in their hands, riding bareback and yelling like mad. After a few minutes of intense suspense, my father recognized the horses and some of the Indians as belonging to
FIRST INDIAN AGENCY BUILDING ON NEZ PERCES RESERVATION
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our own friendly band. His fears for our immediate safety were allayed, but he was intensely exeited and apprehensive.
"After dashing wildly about the prairie and giving all the variations of the warwhoop, they formed a half eirele and made a bee line for the houses, reaching Mr. Walker's first, where all stopped suddenly, with an ear-splitting shriek. Mr. Walker, who was sitting in his house with a half breed Indian, was paralyzed with terror. My father and I went down to his house, distant, perhaps, 100 yards, to meet them. On the way he led me by the hand, and being very much exeited, walked so fast that I had to trot to keep up with him. I said, 'Father, what makes you walk so fast?' Again he did not reply.
"The old chief's son was at the head of the band. His story was that one of their people, while hunting horses the day before, had visited a camp of the Cayuses and found some of them gone, he could not learn where. He suspected it was to Tshimakain. Upon his way home he came upon fresh horse traeks, which so strengthened his suspicions that he walked all night and till noon that day to tell the old chief, who, with a part of the band, was eamped about twenty-five miles from home, near the Spokane Falls.
"The chief immediately said, 'Young men, eateh your horses and run to Tshima- kain and proteet your teachers,' not knowing that we had moved away. That night our horses were secured and put under loek and key. a guard was kept all night, with fires burning, and the next morning, with an eseort of twenty men, we rode three miles aeross the ferry on our way back to the fort. They did this to show the enemy, if any were lurking about, that we were protected. After entering the tim- ber they began to seatter, returning through the woods by separate trails, and thus our guard gradually diminished till we arrived at the fort, one or two only aceom- panying us all the way.
"During the next ten weeks Mr. Eells was almost continually in the saddle, and traveled about 1.100 miles, visiting all the Spokane Indian bands, most of whom maintained friendly relations, and none of whom became hostile. He always traveled alone. except when accompanied by trusty Indians. Being a man of peace, he never earried any weapons. With a horse that could outrun any Indian horse in the coun- try, and a mule that could scent an Indian half a mile or more tethered elose by, he often slept alone in some out of the way place under a friendly bush. His quiet courage and strict integrity won the respeet and confidence of the Indians. and en- abled him to hold them all in eheek and prevent bloodshed.
"With their right hands reverently placed on his pocket testament and in his presence, the chiefs and head men of the several bands made solemn promises of fealty to the whites which they faithfully kept."
The Whitman massacre had thrown the whole country into a furor of alarming apprehensions. The dreadful news. earried quickly into the seattered settlements, from French Prairie in the Willamette valley to the fur trading outposts in British Columbia, struek alarm to the minds of the bravest men and terror to the hearts of timid women and children. Every rifle in the Oregon country was cleaned and oiled for the general savage warfare that seemed impending, and the door of every remote cabin was doubly barrieaded.
Mischievous and murderous minded Cayuse Indians had put out their runners. with lying reports calculated to inflame the tribes of the interior, and to allay these
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disturbing influences. Father Eels was in the saddle, weeks at a time, going every- where over the interior, serene, courageous, self-possessed. And this at a time when even the fur traders suffered from attacks of "nerves," for at Fort Colville Factor Lewes kept his place guarded, night and day.
News of the massacre at Waiilatpn roused the fighting spirit of the Oregon set- tlers, and a volunteer regiment, commanded by Colonel II. A. G. Lee, marched out of the Willamette valley, ascended the Columbia river to the interior, and invaded the country of the hostiles. But their clusive foe, thoroughly alarmed at this formid- able appearance of bitter and resolute avengers, scattered to the winds, and little punishment could be inflicted. May 28 two Indians brought letters to the refugees at Fort Colville, one from Colonel Lee informing the missionaries that his forces had dispersed and chased the flying Cayuses across Snake river. and adding:
"When we found that it was not expedient to pursue the flying Indians further, we halted. The question was asked: Shall we go back to the Willamette and leave the two mission families of Rev. Messrs. Walker and Eells? That could not he thought of. They could not look AAmericans in the face and say: 'We have left two missionary families in the Indian country in these times.' Volunteers were asked for to bring away those families and sixty responded. Major Joseph Magone was placed in charge."
A letter from Major Magone stated that he would be at Tshimakain with his forces on Sunday, May 28 (the same day that the messengers arrived at Colville with these dispatches), to give them military escort to the Willamette settlements.
After consulting among themselves and with Factor Lewes, a verdict was reached for abandonment of the mission, and carly the next morning Walker, Eells and a son of Mr. Lewes were in the saddle for Tshimakain, where they arrived before sunset, a ride of 70 miles. The Spokanes were reluctant to lose their teachers, and pro- tested, with fine spirit, that they would protect the white families, and if need be. were ready to make war on the Cayuses. When reminded that the presence of the missionaries might involve them in serious troubles. they answered that they were ready to accept the risk and one Indian, opening his blanket, declared, with fine imagery. that they would protect the missionaries even as a mother protected her child. To the last the Spokanes remonstrated against the contemplated separation. and seeing that further conference could be of no profit. the party returned to Col- ville. By noon of Thursday all were ready, and bidding goodbye to their kind hosts and protectors at Fort Colville, they sorrowfully faced the south and reached the vi- cinity of Tshimakain on Saturday. Lacking the heart to encounter again the plead- ing eyes and voices of the Spokanes, they changed their plan of remaining there over Sunday, and crossed the Spokane and observed the Sabbath on the south bank of the stream.
"The groves were God's first temples," in the Spokane country. Our mission workers could not wait for the rearing even of four plain walls, much less for "fretted vault." and swelling organ tones. Many a time and oft they spoke God's word in the beautiful cathedral of nature, beneath the vast dome of heaven, while their wild and uncouth congregations gathered attentively around, in the shade of the pillared pines. Fitting theme for the hand and brush of genius was that fare- well service, on a Sabbath morning in early June, on the bank of the brimming Spo- kane, with the women and children seated on bales of household goods. and the
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Oregon volunteers, stained by weeks of campaigning through the Indian country, some seated on logs, others half-reclining on the turf, and others yet with folded arms, standing soldierly crect.
As the quiet Sunday wore away, many sorrowing Indians gathered in. "We do not know when we shall hear you again," said Qual-qual-a-hive-tsa; "will you not say a service for us?" And for seripture text the preacher took, "The people departed, sorrowing most of all that they might see our face no more."
And so, after more than nine years of rough home-building among the Spokanes, they went away from beautiful Tshimakain, birthplace of five of the Walker chil- dren and of Edwin and Myron Eells. Few of them were ever to look again upon that mountain vale. And yet, "there is a elinging to the land of one's birth," and in memory of the place, Mrs. Mary Walker, "Grandma Walker" she became in later years to all the people of the countryside, wrote these lines for her children:
Tshimakain. Oh, how fine, Fruits and flowers abounding ; And the breeze through the trees, Life and health conferring
And the rill near the hill. With its sparkling water: Lowing herds and prancing steeds Around it used to gather.
And the Sabbath was so quiet. And the log-house chapel. Where the Indians used to gather In their robes and blankets.
Now it stands. alas, forsaken: No one with the Bible Comes to teach the tawny Skailu* Of Kai-ko-len-so-tin. f
Other spots on earth may be To other hearts as dear; But not to me; the reason why. It was the place that bore me."
That first week of the exodus took them to Dr. Whitman's mission. Two faith- ful Spokanes went with them to the crossing of Snake river, and, parting, one of them said: "Our hearts weep to see you go, but we are reconciled." The second week brought them to The Dalles. There the eavaleade divided, Mr. Eels, with his domestic animals, going with the troops overland through the Cascade mountains by way of Barlow pass, the others deseending the Columbia in boats and going up the Willamette to Oregon City at the falls.
People.
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"The missions of the American Board in Oregon were broken up," says Myron Eells in the biography of his father. "Could they be resumed? The only mission in regard to which there was any hope was that among the Spokanes. Hoping that the way would open for their return, Messrs. Walker and Eells did not sever their connection with the Board for five years.
"The Indians were very anxious to have them return, and in 1851 journeyed four hundred and fifty miles to Oregon City to obtain teachers. Dr. Dart, superin- tendent of Indian affairs, did what he could to aid them, but after thoroughly weighing the matter neither Mr. Walker nor Mr. Eells could feel it his duty to return: for. first, there was no adequate protection at Tshimakain; and. second, the cost of resuming and sustaining operations was very great, owing largely to the high prices resulting from the discovery of gold in California. . Hence in 1855 their connection as missionaries with the Board was formally dissolved.
"The Indians had been left by their teachers, and the question was, Would they return to their former practices? Instead of retrogression came advance. If not members of the visible church-and not one had been thought fit for church membership -- some showed that they were members of the invisible one. Several, as if divinely called. took position as leaders and teachers. There were public Sabbath services and daily worship in their lodges. If the head man were absent, another took his place. If the praying men were all away, the praying women took their places."
Annually some of the Spokanes went to the Willamette valley for work, and each year they pleaded for the return of the missionaries. Yielding, at last, to their importuning, Mr. Walker resolved to pay them a visit. in company with Indian Superintendent Dart. The two started for the Spokane country, but Dart was called back, and Walker deemed it best to return with him.
"Notwithstanding all the commotion about Tshimakain in the spring of 1818, the wheat had been sown in hope that it might be needed." adds Father Eells' biog- rapher. "When the missionaries left in June, Mr. Eells gave the Indians the two sickles, and they were instructed to cut it when it was ripe and put it in the barn, and if the missionaries did not return before the snow should fall, they might thresh and cat it. It was harvested, but the chief said it must be kept for the use of their teachers on their return. It was used in time of need for seed, but was replaced. When they expected Mr. Walker to visit them, they carried it to Colville and had it ground, and brought it back for the use of the party."
In 1861. the government having established a military post at Fort Colville and placed Major Lngenbeel in command, that officer, who served also as Indian agent, said to Mr. Eells: "Those Indians of yours are the best Indians I ever saw. I wish you would go back and resume missionary operations among them."
CHAPTER XI
FOUNDING THE FIRST CHURCHES AROUND SPOKANE
FATHER EELLS RETURNS TO THE BUNCHGRASS REGION-TWELVE YEARS AT WALLA WALLA-FOUNDS WHITMAN ACADEMY-SPALDING RETURNS TO THE NEZ PERCES- BAPTIZES 253 SPOKANES-EELLS VISITS HIS OLD FRIENDS ON THE SPOKANE-DELIV- ERS FIRST FOURTH OF JULY ADDRESS AT COLVILLE-ORGANIZES AT COLFAX FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH NORTH OF SNAKE RIVER-ELECTED SCHOOL SUPERIN- TENDENT OF WHITMAN COUNTY-LIFE AS A CIRCUIT RIDER OUT OF COLFAX- MOVES TO MEDICAL LAKE-DEDICATES CHURCHI AT CHEWELAH-ORGANIZES CHURCII AT MEDICAL LAKE-IHIS WORK IN SPOKANE-ORGANIZES CHURCH AT SPRAGUE- IHIS LAST DAYS AT TACOMA-TRIBUTES TO HIS MEMORY-MISSION WORK AMONG THIE NEZ PERCES-LIFE WORK OF REV. I. H. SPALDING-A DEVOTED BAND-GENERAL HOWARD'S TRIBUTE TO MISS M'BETH.
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