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 15
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78
Dr. Lyman Abbott wrote in the Christian Union: "A man of great and beautiful character, of unsurpassed consecration, and one to whom the republic of the United States owes a far greater debt than to many who have occupied a far more con- spicuous place in history."
Measured by interest aroused, numbers converted, and sustained results, the Nez Perce missions at Lapwai and Kamiah were the most successful of all Protestant efforts to evangelize the native races of the Pacific northwest. The reader will recall that with Marens Whitman and his bride came the Rev. H. II. Spalding and bride, crossing the Rocky mountains in 1836, the young wives the first women to traverse the American continent ; and that the Spaldings answered the call of
103
SPOKANE AND THE INLAND EMPIRE
the Nez Perces, the most numerous and extensive of all the Indian tribes of the interior, and established a mission and school among them at Lapwai. The school opened with 100 pupils, old and young, and three years after the attendance had grown to 150 children and as many adults. Mr. Spalding reported that the more devout Nez Perces frequently spent the entire night pondering over what they had learned the day before. Two years later these Indians gathered in assem- blages of from 1,000 to 2,000 for religious instruction.
They eagerly sought instruction in agriculture, and some of them would barter their guns, dearest possession of the Indian heart, for hoes and spades. Nearly a hundred families planted fields around Mr. Spalding's, who reported in 1838 that his own field yielded 2,000 bushels of potatoes, besides a good crop of wheat and other products.
For many years after the missionaries had withdrawn to the Willamette valley, the Nez Perces remained without white instructors, but immigrants. gold hunters, Indian agents and traders reported that the Christianizing influences of the mis- sionaries remained. One third of the Nez Perces were found to be maintaining family worship, and public services were continued under the faithful preaching of Timothy. They possessed hymn books in their own beautiful language, and read from the gospel of Matthew, also in their own tongue-books that had been printed in mission days on the first printing press to be set up and operated west of the Rocky mountains. This equipment of the "art preservative of all arts" had come as a donation from the Rev. H. Bingham's church at Honolulu, and with it, in 1839, had come E. O. Hall, a printer from the Sandwich islands, induced to make the long voyage and journey to the interior of the American continent by the invalidism of his wife. The Halls remained at Lapwai till the spring of 1840, when they returned to the Sandwich islands.
So well had many of the Nez Perces kept up their knowledge of reading and writing that they were able, at the great council at Walla Walla in 1855, as re- ported by General Joel Palmer and others, to take notes of the proceedings and make copies of the treaties there negotiated by Governor Stevens.
After the vigorous and successful Wright campaign of 1858, the country cast of the Caseade mountains was declared open by military proclamation, in 1859, to white settlement. and soon thereafter Mr. Spalding, who, through all the wait- ing years down in the Willamette valley, had cherished a purpose to return to his first field of endeavor, came back to the Nez Perce country and resumed his mission labors. "Although Mr. Spalding had been absent from the tribe many years," reported Indian Agent J. W. Anderson. "yet they retained all the forms of worship which had been taught them. Many of them have prayers night and morning in their lodges. Not having any suitable schoolhouse, I permitted Mr. Spalding to open his school in my office shortly after his arrival, and from that time till he was compelled to discontinue the school from severe sickness, the school was crowded, not only with children, but with old men and women, some of whom were compelled to use glasses to assist the sight. Some of the old men would remain till bedtime engaged in transcribing into their language portions of scripture trans- lated by Mr. Spalding."
Judge Alexander Smith, of the first judicial district of Idaho. wrote about
104
SPOKANE AND THE INLAND EMPIRE
that time, for publication in a San Francisco newspaper, the following interesting account of services held at Lewiston by Mr. Spalding:
"On Sunday last I had the pleasure of attending church at this place, conducted in Nez Perec by Rev. 11. H. Spalding. The governor, federal and county officers and citizens of Lewiston were mostly present. The scene was deeply solemn and interesting; the breathless silence, the earnest, devout attention of that great con- gregation (even the small children) to the words of their much loved pastor; the spirit, the sweet melody of their singing; the readiness with which they turned to hymns and chapters, and read with Mr. Spalding the lessons from their testaments which Mr. Spalding had translated and printed twenty years before; the earnest, pathetic voices of the native Christians whom Mr. Spalding called upon to pray- all, all deeply and solemnly impressed that large congregation of white spectators, even to tears. It were better a thousand times over, if the government would do away with its policy that is so insufficiently carried out, and only lend its aid to a few such men as Mr. Spalding, whose whole heart is in the business, who has but one desire, to civilize and Christianize the Indians."
In his able work, "Indian Missions," the Rev. Myron Eells blames "govern- mental policy and officers, the Indian ring and others," for hostile interference with Mr. Spalding's later work among the Nez Perces. "Some of the time he was on the outskirts, some of the time in the Walla Walla region, and sometimes elsewhere; vet all of the time he was aiming to do one thing. notwithstanding the opposition of those who so often defeated him," a judgment which needs to be tempered by the statement of fact that Mr. Spalding, as often is the case with men of intense 'zeal and resolution of purpose, was temperamentally unfortunate and not infre- quently bitter and undiplomatie in his relations with others.
"It was not until he went in person to Washington, in the winter of 1870-71," adds Eells, "that he obtained an order freely to return to his field. Ile reentered it in the fall of 1871, and for three years worked with unabating zeal, and during this time he was allowed to gather in the harvest."
lle lies buried at Lapwai, death calling him to his long reward on August 3, 1871. Large part of the last year of his life was devoted to mission work among the Spokanes. Of these he baptized nearly 700 in the last three years of his life.
"Perhaps," said the Oregonian of August 22, 1874, "it is to his influence more than to any other cause, that the Nez Perces are indebted for the distinction they enjoy of being regarded as the most intelligent and the 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."
In the closing years of his mission Mr. Spalding drew around him a most devoted, earnest band of Christian workers, including our Spokane pioneer, H. T. Cowley and wife, and Miss S. L. MeBeth, who came from the Choctaw mission to take employ- ment under goverment as a teacher among the Nez Perces. Of this remarkable woman General O. O. Howard, who visited her when passing through the country with his command in pursuit of Chief Joseph and his hostile band, wrote in the Chicago Advance of June 14, 1877:
"In a small house having two or three rooms, I found Miss MeBeth living by herself. She is such an invalid from partial paralysis, that she can not walk from
105
SPOKANE AND THE INLAND EMPIRE
house to house, so I was sure to find her at home. The candle gave us a dim light, so that I could seareely make out how she looked as she gave me her hand and weleomed me to Kamiah. The next time I saw her by day, showed me a pale intellectual face, above a slight frame. How could this face and frame seek this far-off region? Little by little the mystery is solved. Her soul has been fully eon- seerated to Christ, and He has, as she believes, sent her upon a special mission to the Indians. Her work seems simple, just like the Master's in some respeets. For example, she gathers her disciples around her, a few at a time, and having herself learned their language, so as to understand them and to speak passably, she instruets them and makes teachers of these disciples.
"There is the lounge and the chair, there the eook stove and the table, there, in another room, the little cabinet organ, and a few benehes. So is everything about this little teacher, the simplest in style and work. The only Nez Perees books thus far are the gospel of Matthew, translated by Mr. Spalding, and the gospel of John, by James Renben, the Indian assistant teacher, who was aided in the translation by the Rev. Mr. Ainslie. It is evident these must be largely used in this work of instrnetion. I hear that the Indian department is afraid that Miss MeBeth is teaching theology and orders her back to the rudiments. Certainly not theology in the way of 'isms' of any kind, I am ready to affirm. I told her to eall it 'theophily,' if a high-sounding name was needed for God's love. For as Jonah, the sub-chief, brokenly said, 'It makes Indians stop buying and selling wives; stop gambling and horse-raeing for money ; stop getting drunk and running about; stop all time lazy and make them all time work.' It is filling this charming little village with houses, and though she ean not visit them, her pupils' houses are becoming neat and eleanty. The wife is becoming industrious within doors, sews, knits and cooks. The fences are up, the fields are planted. Oh, that men could see that this faithful teaching has the speedy effeet to change the heart of the individual man ; then all the fruits of civilization begin to follow."
In the chapter next following, the narrative of the Rev. HI. T. Cowley's removal from the Nez Peree reservation, to take up independent mission work among the Spokanes, will eonelude our review of Protestant missions in the Inland Empire.
CHAPTER XII
H. T. COWLEY TELLS OF LIFE AMONG THE SPOKANES
BEGINS MISSION WORK WITH THE NEZ PERCES IN 1871-BECOMES AN INDEPENDENT TEACHER AT SPOKANE IN 1874-FAMILY LIVES ON DRIED SALMON AND VENISON- OPENS SCHOOL IN INDIAN LODGE-INDIANS HELP TO BUILD SCHOOLHOUSE AND DWELLING FOR MR. COWLEY-EAGER TO LEARN WAYS OF CIVILIZATION-SLIGHT RE- SPECT FOR PRIVACY-GIFTS COME FROM AFAR-FINDS INDIANS HONEST AND KIND- TEACHES FIRST PUBLIC SCHOOL, WITH SIX PUPILS.
T
HE appended tabulation, compiled by Captain Thomas W. Symons, U. S. en- gineer corps. shows the variant spelling of the name Spokane:
Spokan Official Transfer Papers Pacific Fur company to Northwest Fur company.
Spokan
Ross Cox.
Spokane
War Department Map 1838.
Spokane
.Commodore Wilkes.
Spokein
Rev. S. Parker. This writer, who visited the country in 1836, says: "The name of this nation is generally written Spo- kan, sometimes Spokane. I ealled them Spokans, but they corrected my pronunciation and said 'Spokein' and this they repeated several times, until I was convinced that to give their name a correct pronunciation, it should be writ- ten Spokein."
Spokan
Greenhow.
Spokain
McViekar.
Spokan
Nath. J. Wyeth's report, 1839.
Spokane
Robertson.
Spokane
Thornton.
A. Ross.
Spokane Spokan Spokan
Franchere.
Irving.
Spokan
Nat. Railroad Memoirs.
Spokan Armstrong.
Spokan
St. John.
Spokane
Pacific Railroad Report.
Spokane Mullan.
Spoken
Robertson & Crawford.
107
108
SPOKANE AND THE INLAND EMPIRE
Perhaps no one here has more intimate knowledge of Indian life and character than that possessed by H. T. Cowley. Mr. Cowley went among the Nez Perces in 1871 as missionary and teacher, and in 1874 transferred his labors to the land of the Spokanes. With these he maintained the relation of "guide, counsellor and friend" for a period of eight years, preaching in their lodges, teaching in a rough building constructed largely by their efforts, and for a while subsisting, himself and family, on their rough fare of dried salmon and lean venison.
While a student at Oberlin college. Mr. Cowley met and married Mrs. Cowley, and under the rules was thereby disbarred from the completion of his course. He went then to Antioch as teacher and student, and was graduated from that college. A year later he went to Auburn Theological seminary and was graduated from that institution. After two years' service among the Protestant Nez Perces at Kamiah, Idaho, differences having come up between the Indian agent and the missionaries, he resigned and took up his residence at the new settlement of Mt. Idaho, on Camas prairie.
"A year or so later," said Mr. Cowley, "the Spokane Indians sent down a delega- tion to petition me to come among them and establish a school and church at the falls of the Spokane. They expressed an earnest desire for the white man's en- lightenment. and undertook to provide a house for my family, a school building for their own people, and the necessary food supplies for my support. I was urged to take this step by the pioneer missionary, H. H. Spalding, then teaching and preaching at Lapwai. Mr. Spalding bad preached to the Spokanes in the summer of 1873, and intended to return with me in 1871, but was taken ill and died that summer. He now lies buried at Lapwai.
"I arrived here in June. 1874, in company with six young Nez Perces, who had been my helpers at Kamiah, one of them a son of Chief Lawyer. The Lawyers were a remarkable family. A daughter, Lucy, was a very attractive young woman, and could readily have made an alliance with any one of several white suitors. One of the army officers at Fort Lapwai formed a deep attachment for her. and asked her hand in marriage. but she declined the offer and remained single to her death. She spoke English well and was a very intelligent woman. Lawyer's two sons became Presbyterian preachers. Archie, the younger, was as fine a young man as you would sce anywhere. He possessed a splendid form, the Indian physiognomy was not pronounced in him, and he had a bearing of great dignity.
"After I had looked over the field at Spokane. I returned to Mt. Idaho for my family, and we arrived here in the middle of October, traveling by wagon. Living at the falls then were J. N. Glover. his partner. C. F. Yeaton, and a man named Kizer. On our way up from Mt. Idaho, we overtook William Pool. a carpenter, and his family, who were coming to locate at Spokane. Mr. Pool helped me to build my house and the Indian schoolhouse.
"My first dwelling was at a point which is now on Sixth avenue, between Divi- sion and Browne. We built the schoolhouse on Sixth between Division and Pine. The dwelling was of logs, two rooms below and a large attic above, and we later added a leanto kitchen. We could not find mortar or clay for chinking. and as a substitute used a quantity of pine moss, which the Indian squaws brought from the woods beyond Hangman ereck. The logs used in this structure had previously gone into a half completed building down near Howard street and the river. Someone
109
SPOKANE AND THE INLAND EMPIRE
had started a house there, which had never been completed, and Mr. Glover had sold it to the Indians. Enoch, a Spokane sub-chief, who had been instrumental in my coming here. took his team and hauled the logs up to the building site. There were here, at that time, about 250 or 300 Indians, who had been living in seattered eneampments but Jater assembled in the vicinity of Pine street in order to be near the school. Enoch had fenced in about 180 aeres; his north line was about where Third avenue now lies, his south line was the eliff, his west line Howard street and the east line ran near Pine.
"The schoolhouse was a box structure, 20 by 30, built of lumber bought at Glover's mill. There was some dissatisfaction over the refusal by Mr. Glover to donate the Jumber, the Indians alleging that his predecessors, who had located here in 1871, had promised, in an informal treaty, to give them all the lumber they might require for their own uses, and they contended that Mr. Glover ought to consider himself bound to carry out that agreement. They finally agreed to pay for the lumber in furs and grain, but Mr. Glover had considerable difficulty in col- Jeeting, and I believe he never was fully compensated for that lumber. The In- dians had very crude ideas about contraets and debts. They could barter furs for goods, but beyond that could not grasp the white man's contraets and agreements. They were as ignorant as children. In the same way Mr. Pool, the earpenter, was to have three horses for his labor, and we had considerable difficulty in getting them.
"Before the building was erected, I opened school in a large Indian lodge, about eighty feet long, covered with Indian matting, canvas, sheeting and a few buffalo robes. Some of the Indians, but not all, had robes enough for lodges. Buffalo robes were generally used for bedding, and were spread upon a rough mattress of pine boughs and moss, or of tall rye grass and rushes from the swamps. I fre- quently slept in their tents in winter. On cold nights they would keep a fire going and some of these lodges were quite comfortable.
"The young men carried the lumber on their baeks all the way from the saw- mill down on the river bank, and the building was not completed until March. A stove was brought from Walla Walla.
"When it was completed, old and young gathered in and filled the place to its eapaeity. Enoch himself would come occasionally and spend the day, taking in- struction. I never saw a people so eager to learn the ways of civilization. I first taught them the letters and figures. I had a blackboard and some erayons and drew pictures of animals and familiar articles. Pointing to one of these, I would get the Indian word for it and write it down, and then the corresponding English word. Considering the difficulties we had to contend with, they made very rapid progress. They wanted to start the lessons at daylight and keep up the instruction until dark.
"My family then comprised Mrs. Cowley, Edith, aged seven, now Mrs. E. C. Stillman, living on the old homestead at Sixth and Division ; Fred W., aged five, after- ward drowned in Loon lake : Grace, aged three, who died at the time of the death of her mother in 1900; Agnes, aged one, now Mrs. J. L. Paine. living in the Wellington apartments at Stevens and Sixth. Cazenovia, born here in June. 1876, is now Mrs. A. K. Smythe of Portland; and Arthur W., born here in 1878, is an architect of this eity.
"I was long of the belief that my daughter was the first white ehild born in Spokane, but recently my attention has been directed to historieal authority which
110
SPOKANE AND THE INLAND EMPIRE
credits that distinction to the little daughter of a family named Bassett, and I think that claim is correct. The Bassetts had moved from Spokane to the Four Lakes country before my arrival here, and their little daughter was drowned at that place.
"In looking baek over those eventful years. I marvel now that I ventured so much in bringing my family here and taking up my work independent of any sup- port beyond the meager help promised by the Indians. They had agreed to provide a house and provisions. but were unable to carry out their promise. I came here with just $13 in gold dust, given to me by Mrs. II. H. Spalding after the death of her husband. I acted on religious faith, trusting that the Lord would provide for my family, and in this trust I was not disappointed.
"The Indians brought us a little dried salmon and some lean venison, and Enoch, who had a cow, brought us a bucket of milk daily. Our first substantial supplies came from settlers at Spangle-a wagonload of potatoes, carrots, cabbages, turnips and onions, and half of a young hog. In some way, without any effort on my part, an account of my work got into the newspapers, and it must have appealed to publie sentiment, for it was not long till we were receiving boxes of provisions. clothing and bedding from Walla Walla, Lewiston, Portland and even Cazenovia, New York, so that we suffered no hardships, and experienced no siekness.
"The Indians made as free with our house as their own lodges. They would crowd into the living room on winter days or nights and uneceremoniously stretch themselves before the open fire, never appearing to realize that they were shutting off the heat from the members of my family. They were like children, yet we enjoyed the experience, and every day was filled with work.
"Good friends at Portland were also active in another way. After I had been working in this independent manner for several months. I was surprised and grati- fied to learn that through the Rev. Dr. Lindsley, pastor of the First Presbyterian church in Portland. influence had been successfully exerted to secure me a commis- sion from the Indian department. as teacher for the Spokanes at a yearly salary of $1,000. Some time prior to that, the goverment had adopted a new policy in re- spect to Indian education, of recognizing both Catholic and Protestant organizations, and transferring to them educational work which had previously been carried on by the war department. As the Spokanes were chiefly Protestants under the influence of Fathers Bells and Walker, at Walker's prairie, northwest of Spokane. I was di- rected to report to the Nez Perce agent at Lapwai, the Nez Perces also being chiefly Protestants.
"We used the schoolhouse as a church. but before it was built I held religious services in their lodges. When I first came here in June, the young Indians cut down a number of cottonwood trees, dug holes and formed a sort of amphitheatre, which they covered over with poles and boughs, and in that arbor I preached to a large congregation.
"I found Indian nature totally different from what I had conceived it to be in my youth. In general they were just as reliable as white people. honest and re- gardful of their word. In my entire experience I lost only two articles by theft- a halter and a watermelon. They returned the halter, and the Indian who took the watermelon stood up in church and made open confession. I felt as safe among them as among the same number of whites. Once you get their confidence. they are loyal to the core. The Spokanes were as industrious as you could expeet a people
111
SPOKANE AND THE INLAND EMPIRE
to be in their state. They foresaw the coming of the changed conditions growing out of the settlement of their country, and took to the cultivation of the soil and raising of eattle, and wanted schoolhouses and churches. I endeavored, from the beginning, to impress upon them that the Northern Paeifie, when completed, would bring settlers and their only hope was to take up land and learn the ways of the white man. There was no other hope for them as a raee, but they found it very difficult to give up the tribal relation, and did not want to take up land in severalty.
"When General O. O. Howard and Governor Ferry met them here in eouneil in 1881, on the prairie in what is now Dennis & Bradley's addition, and announeed that they must take land in severalty, or be placed on a reservation west of the Columbia, they were indignant and said: 'What right have you to dietate to us? This is our country and we will not leave it!' Garry, who could speak English quite well, voieed the protest, and it was heeded. The government did not eare to repeat the blunder made in 1877, with the Nez Perees.
"Soon after I came Mr. Glover, Mr. Yeaton, L. M. Swift, an attorney, and my- self held a sehool eleetion. Glover, Yeaton and I elected ourselves directors and Swift, elerk, and I was employed as teacher. I had to go to Colville to get a teacher's certifieate.
"As my house was the only available place, we opened there the first school in January, 1875, with six pupils: Edith, Fred and Graee Cowley, two children of Mr. and Mrs. Pool, girls, and a little daughter of Mr. Yeaton. I soon discovered that I could not keep up teaching in connection with my other work and turned the school over to Mrs. Swift, and she removed it to her residenee, a log house between Third and Fourth avenues and Bernard and Browne streets, and she completed there the three months' term in March.
"About 1876, Rev. S. G. Havermale, who had come here in 1875, started a pri- vate school in the hall over Glover's store. He had expectations of building up a Methodist educational institution, and wanted to combine his school with the pub- lie school. but it was found that this could not be done under the law."
After Mr. Cowley gave up his work as missionary and teacher, he engaged for a while in journalism. C. B. Carlisle had come here from Portland in 1881, under finaneial encouragement from J. N. Glover, J. J. Browne, and A. M. Cannon, and founded the weekly Chronicle. Later Carlisle sold to C. B. Hopkins, Lueien Kellogg, and Hiram Allen, brother of Senator John B. Allen of Walla Walla. They in turn sold to a newspaper man named Woodbury, who came here from the Cincinnati Commereial Gazette, and a little later Woodbury sold the paper to Mr. Cowley, in the spring of 1883, who held it till 1887. Eneonraged by the boom growing out of the discovery and development of the Coeur d'Alene mines, Mr. Cowley raised the Chroniele to a daily in July, 1884, but gave it up in the fall and ran it as a weekly until 1886, when it heeame a permanent daily.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.