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 16
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CHAPTER XIII
CATHOLIC MISSIONS IN THE INLAND EMPIRE
REV. MODEST DEMERS DESCENDS THE COLUMBIA IN 1838-MAKES A MISSION TOUR OF INTERIOR THE FOLLOWING YEAR-ST. MARY'S ESTABLISHED IN 1841 BY FATHER DESMET AND OTHERS-COEUR D'ALENE MISSION ESTABLISHED ON THE ST. JOE, 1842-TRANSFERRED TO THE COEUR D'ALENE IN 1846-FATHER JOSET IN CHARGE -ST. IGNATIUS MOVED FROM LOWER PEND D'OREILLE RIVER TO MONTANA-SACRED HEART MISSION TRANSFERRED TO DESMET-MISSION LABORS AMONG THIE NEZ PER- CES-MISSIONS IN THE COLVILLE COUNTRY-PRESIDENT OF GONZAGA VISITS THE CALISPELS-ARMY OFFICER'S DESCRIPTION OF THE OLD MISSION OF ST. IGNATIUS.
A parish priest was of the pilgrim train, An awful, reverend and religious man. His eyes diffused a venerable grace, And charity itself was in his face. Rich was his soul, though his attire was poor. (As God hath elothed his own ambassador ), For such, on earth, his blessed Redeemer bore. Of sixty years he seemed ; and well might last To sixty more, but that he lived too fast ; Refined himself to soul, to eurb the sense, And made almost a sin of abstinenee.
-Dryden.
N THE history of the Catholic missions of the Inland Empire we possess a deathless story of absorbing interest and inspiration; a record of dangers braved, privations borne and hardships endured under the saered banner of the church. So long as history shall be read, that long will survive and be held in honored remembrance the names and deeds of such devoted priests as Blanchet and Demers, De Smet and Joset, Hoeeken, Mengarini, Point, Ravalli. I
Historie evidence sustains the belief that the sacred emblem of the eross was lifted on these Pacific shores by Spanish explorers, and possibly by Spanish priests. Writing from Cowlitz, in western Washington, under date of February, 1844, the apostolieal missionary J. B. Z. Bolduc said that even then he found ruins of birch edifiees, "constructed for the purpose of drawing the savage nations to the knowl- edge of the gospel:" and among the natives, relies had been found attesting this faet. "A certain tribe had possessed for ages a brazen erueifix, bearing the ap- Vol. . I-X
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pearance of great antiquity ; when. how, and by whom it was brought thither, none can attest."
Although the officers, clerks and employes of the fur companies that operated in these regions over the first half of the past century were of the Catholic faith, no organized effort was made to establish missions in the Pacific northwest until the year 1831. By that time an extensive colony of former servants of the Hud- son's Bay company had settled on French prairie, in the Willamette valley of Ore- gon, and application was made to Dr. Provencher, vicar apostolic of Hudson Bay, for a elergyman for their service. But means of communication were slow, events moved leisurely in those distant days, and their prayers were not fully answered until 1838. The Rev. Modest Demers came as far west as the Canadian Red River settlement in 1837. and arranged with the fur company for himself and a fellow laborer to pass into Oregon the following year. According to an outline sketch of Oregon territory and its missions, which later prefaced the published letters of Father De Smet, Rev. F. N. Blanchet "left Canada at the appointed time, and joined his companion at Red River, whence they both started on the 10th of July. and after a perilous journey of between 4,000 and 5,000 miles, and the loss of twelve of their fellow travelers in the rapids of the Columbia river. they arrived at Fort Vancouver the 24th of November the same year. On seeing the mission- aries at length among them, the Canadians wept for joy. and the savages assembled from a distance of 100 miles to behold the black gowns, of whom so much had been said."
After several months of mission work west of the Caseade mountains, Father Demers ascended the Columbia in July, 1839, visiting Walla Walla, Okanogan and Fort Colville, "baptizing all the children that were brought to him in the course of his journey." He was the first ordained priest to spread the Catholic faith in the Inland Empire. His journey to the interior consumed three months, and he returned in October to Fort Vancouver. The following year Father Demers re- peated his journey of 1839. again visiting Walla Walla, Okanogan and Colville.
We quote now from a manuscript in possession of August Wolf. prepared with the sanction of Gonzaga college:
"In response to solicitations ( from the Indians to the bishop of St. Louis) Fa- thers Peter J. DeSmet. Gregory Mengarini and Nicholas Point. accompanied by Brothers Specht, Huet and Claessens, set out for the Rocky mountains in 1841. Arrived in the Flathead country. they founded. September 24. the first mission of St. Mary's, in the Bitter Root valley, not far from the site of the present town of Stevensville, Montana. The fathers lived among the Indians, instructing them and administering the sacraments, and conforming themselves to the customs of the savages. They learned their language, and lived as the savages did, on roots and berries, and the products of the fisheries and the chase. In the course of time they erected a church and residence, and cultivated the land, striving at first. with- out much success, to induce their wild neophytes to imitate them in agricultural matters. However, the Flatheads. as well as many of the neighboring tribes, re- sponded to the call of salvation, and a great number were baptized and came to worship at the mission. The history of subsequent missions was somewhat similar, except in later years the school beeame an important feature.
"On various occasions the fathers at St. Mary's received visits from members
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of tribes on both sides of the mountains, and the Coeur d'Alenes in particular begged that a mission might be given them also. Their wish was granted in the autumn of 1842, when Father Nicholas Point and Brother Huet built a residence on the St. Joe river, a sluggish stream that empties into Lake Coeur d'Alene. This was the beginning of the famous Coeur d'Alene mission, now at Desmet, Idaho.
"In 1843 Fathers Peter DeVos and Andrew Hoeeken. with four lay brothers, among them Brother J. B. MeGean, arrived at St. Mary's from St. Louis. and shortly afterward, in 1844, Father Joseph Joset and Father Zerbinati came from the same place, with Brother Vineent Magri. They made a welcome addition to the little band of missionaries and soon found employment. Father Hoecken, after visiting the Sacred Heart mission on the St. Joe, was detailed to found a mission among the Calispels, near Lake Pend d'Oreille. In the summer of 1844 he located the first St. Ignatius mission on Clark's fork, some sixty miles below Sand Point. This was the third mission founded. Father Joset, in the meantime, joined Father Point at the Coeur d'Alene mission, while Father DeVos and Father Zerbinati remained with Father Mengarini at St. Mary's. Meanwhile Father DeSmet, su- perior of the missions. had traveled to Europe to obtain recruits. He was well received everywhere, and his holiness. Pope Gregory XVI, proposed to make him bishop of the new diocese to be ereeted in Oregon. He managed, however, to trans- fer this burden to the shoulders of the Rev. Father F. N. Blanehet.
"In 1815 Father Nobili and Father Ravalli were called to aetive service. The former was sent to found a mission in New Caledonia (in northern British Colum- bia). Father Ravalli was ordered to found a mission in the Colville valley, and built the first chapel there. on a hill between the fishery at Kettle Falls and Fort Colville. This chapel was named St. Paul's. After a few months, however, he was called to St. Mary's on the death of Father Zerbinati. Here he remained till 1850, when that mission was closed for sixteen years.
"In 1816 the mission on the St. Joe was transferred to the Coeur d'Alene river on account of the floods. The new mission, which is now known as the "Old Mis- sion," was placed in charge of Father Joset, who a little later became superior of the Rocky mountains when Father DeSmet was ealled away from the mountains by other duties. Father DeSmet took with him Father Point, who had been re- ealled by his superiors to Canada. The two fathers parted after crossing the Rocky mountains, and Father Point remained among the Blackfeet, to instruct them during the winter of 1846-47. The order reealling Father Point had been issued from Paris in 1843, but did not reach him until the end of 1816. Such were the means of communication in those days.
"In 1850 Father Joset was sent to elose old St. Mary's, on account of the bad disposition shown by the Indians, under the influence of some white men who had lately come among them. Father Mengarini was sent down to the Willamette. and later on to California. while Father Ravalli took charge of the mission on the Coeur d'Alene river, and Father Joset, after visiting Father Hoecken at St. Igna- tius, established himself in 1851 in Colville valley. Here he remained with Father Vereruysse till 1858. Father Ravalli, in the meantime. was drawing up plans and commeneing to build the wonderful church at the old Coeur d'Alene mission, which to this day wins the admiration of visitors -- a church built without nails, planned
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by a genius, and put up by skilled workmen, assisted by savages in the midst of the wilderness.
"We must now return to the mountains and rapidly sketch the progress of the missions there to the present day. When Father Congiato was made superior of both missions in 1851. the Kalispel mission of St. Ignatius was moved from the banks of the Pend d'Oreille to Mission valley in the Flathead country, some twenty miles east of Flathead lake. Here was founded the present St. Ignatius mission, which exists to this day, one of the most striking evidences of missionary enter- prise in the country. The present church and residence, and the houses of the Sisters of Providence and of the Ursuline Sisters are buildings no one would expect to find on an Indian reservation.
"In 1858 Father Ravalli replaced Father Joset at Colville, and Father Joset returned to his beloved Coeur d'Alenes. The Colville mission was closed the fol- lowing year, and Father Ravalli was transferred to St. Ignatius.
"In 1866 old St. Mary's mission was reopened, and the general superior, Fa- ther Giorda. worn out with his labors, retired there to recuperate, leaving Father U'rban Grassi as vice-superior to look after the missions for the next three years. He again resumed his work in 1869. and remained in office till June, 1877, when Father Cataldo took his place. Father Joseph Bandini afterward became superior at St. Mary's, and later on Father Guidi. Father Jerome D'Aste was the last missionary to reside at the place. for it was closed in 1891, and the Indians were transferred to St. Ignatius on the Jocko reservation. At St. Mary's died Father Ravalli, on October 2, 1881. A monument was erected to him by friends and ad- mirers, and some forty miles north of Missoula. a station on the Northern Pacific railroad was named after him. He had retired to St. Mary's at its reopening in 1866.
"In Idaho the old Sacred Heart mission on the Coeur d'Alene river flourished for a long time under Father Joset, later on assisted by Father Caruana and others. In 1879 it was transferred to Desmet. Idaho (on the Coeur d'Alene reservation). where it now stands. Here Father Caruana, who has labored for over forty years among the Indians, still displays his great zeal and energy. This, perhaps, has been the most successful of the Rocky Mountain missions, and today the well-kept farms and the devont bearing of the Indians is remarked by all who visit them. The history of the DeSmet mission might well occupy us. did space allow. Here the first novitiate of the mountains was established. Here Father Joset died. in 1899, at the ripe old age of ninety. He had passed seventy years in religion, and fifty-six among the Indians. He was the last of the old missionaries who had labored with Fathers DeSmet, Point, Hoccken and Giorda.
"In 1865 our fathers were asked to take charge of the mission among the Nez Perce Indians in Idaho. At an early period these Indians had fallen under Pro- testant influence, but many nevertheless wished for the 'Black Robes' In 1866 Father Catdido left the Coeur d'Alene mission, to visit Lewiston, and met some of the Indians there. Next year, being appointed to take charge of Lewiston and the Indians, he built a small church and a small residence there. In 1868 he built a small log church on the Clearwater river, and in 1869 remodeled the old chief's house as a chapel and a school for the Indians. In 1870 he was reealled to the old Coeur d'Alene mission, but was charged to visit the Nez Perces from time to
MISSION ERECTED NEAR FORT COLVILLE, WASHINGTON, BY JESUIT FATHERS
VIEW OF COLVILLE, WASHINGTON
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time. In 1872 we find him back in Lewiston, where he worked with great energy, and in 1874 was able to build a church for the Indians at Slickpoo, where the first mass was said the same year. In 1875 Father Morville arrived from Italy and wintered at old Coeur d'Alene with Father Cataldo, but the following year he took up his residence at Slickpoo with Brother Carfagno. Father Gazzoli joined them in 1877, the year of the Nez Perce war. Thus the mission of St. Joseph's was founded, and today one-third of the Indians are Catholic. Lewiston is now a thriving parish.
"In 1865 the mission of St. Paul's in Colville was reopened. Father Joset had there commenced to build the church of the Immaculate Conception, near Fort Col- ville, for the benefit of the soldiers. This was completed in 1865 by Father Menet- rey and Brother Campopiana. Father Grassi now thought to choose a new site for a mission between St. Paul's and this church, and bought land from a Canadian for this purpose. Here some modest cabins were erected which served as a residence from 1869 to 1873, when Fathers Jacob Vanzina, Joseph Guidi and Paschal Tosi, with Brothers Gaspard Ochiena, Lucian D'Agestino and Achilles Carfagno com- menced to build the present mission of St. Francis Regis. Here the cornerstone of the commodious chapel was blessed in 1878 by Fathers Diomedi and Vanzina. A year later it was completely destroyed by fire and has since been replaced by the present excellent building.
"The Kettle Falls Indians were not the only ones to be visited from Colville, for our fathers used to make excursions among the Semitakan, the Chelans, We- natchees and Okanogans. Father De Rouge commenced a permanent mission among these latter in 1885. Previously Father Urban Grassi had traveled among them and lived with them in their tepees, instructing them in Christian morals and doc- trine. But with the coming of Father De Rouge great strides were made. He has built a church and school, and done great work in spite of exceptional difficulties.
"About this time the parish of Yakima came into the hands of our fathers. This is the largest and most progressive town between Spokane and Seattle, and the parish is increasing in proportion to the growth of the community. The Indians on the Yakima reservation, who until two years ago had also a resident priest, are now attended from North Yakima.
"In Oregon there is the parish at Pendleton. and the mission to the Umatilla Indians attached to it."
Such, in outline, is the history of Catholic missions in the broad region around Spokane, running baek over a period of seventy years. told without embellishment, and, from neccessity of brevity. expressing little of the inspiration that brought the pioneer fathers into a land of savage wildness, or the faith that sustained them through a thousand perils by land and sea. Happily these have come down to us in the published letters of Father DeSmet, letters which reveal, as the preface from another's pen has said, "the manners and customs of the North American In- dians-their traditions, their superstitions. their docility in admitting the maxims of the gospel," and "described with a freshness of coloring, and an exactness of detail, that will render them invaluable not only to our own times, but especially to pos- terity." In the language of this preface, "He travels through those vast and un- explored deserts. not merely as a missionary, filled with the zeal which characterized the apostles of the primitive society to which he belongs (the Jesuits) but with the eye of a poet, and an imagination glowing with a bright yet ealm enthusiasm. Hence
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the exquisite descriptions of scenery, of incidents, of events; descriptions which breathe the spirit of a mind imbued with the loftiest conceptions of nature, and chastened with the sacred influences of faith."
As we have seen, Father DeSmet, after crossing the plains and threading the winding defiles of the Rocky mountains, in 1841, established the mother mission of St. Mary's, near the site of the present town of Stevensville, in Montana. Im- pressed with the vastness of the field, he went then to Europe to arouse interest and win support for the poor and struggling missions of the Rocky mountains; and from that long journey and voyage we find him returning by sea and crossing the troubled Columbia river bar in July, 1811, successful and clated. and eager to plunge into the deep solitudes of the interior and greet again his savage friends from whom he had parted two years before. Duties in the Willamette valley de- tained him several months. but these accomplished, he set out. in the beginning of February. 1845, for the interior. He ascended the Columbia in a canoe to old Fort Walla Walla, and taking the broad and well-worn trail of the Indians and the fur traders, traversed the Walla Walla valley, passed through the Palouse country, and crossing the Spokane valley, passed on to St. Ignatins mission on the lower Pend d'Oreille river where he was grected by Father Adrian Hoecken. This mission stood on the east bank of the Pend d'Oreille, seven miles below the present town of Usk. By reason of frequent flooding from high water, it was abandoned in 1851, and a new site chosen on the Flathead reservation in western Montana.
Although the priests could give these Indians but occasional visitations after the removal of the mission, the Kalispels have continued devout in the Catholic faith. With rejoicing they greeted Father Taelman at the Christmas holidays of 1911, when consideration for his old friends among them prompted the busy president of Gonzaga to venture again into the wintry wilderness. Again in January, 1912, Father Taelman was summoned by Chief Massalah to the bedside of a dying girl. "My people." spoke Massalah, at the funeral, "we are grieved today at the loss of our dear one: but God has his way. This world is a valley of tears. We are now poor and suffering, but if we are true to God, there is a country above where we shall all meet again."
Dr. George Snekley, assistant surgeon U. S. A., who accompanied Governor Stevens across the continent in 1853, and under direction of that official made a remarkable canoe voyage from Fort Owen in Montana, to Vancouver, descending the Bitter Root, Clark's Fork and Columbia, visited St. Ignatius on that voyage. lle has left, in his official report, a most entertaining description of the mission:
"I walked up to the door of the mission house, knocked and entered. I was met by the reverend superior of the mission, Father Hoccken, who, in a truly benevolent and pleasing manner, said: 'Walk in, you are welcome; we are glad to see the face of a white man' } introduced myself and the men, and stated that I had come all the way from St. Mary's by water, after a voyage of twenty-five days; that I was out of provisions and tired. He bade us welcome, had our things brought up from the boat, an excellent dinner prepared for us, and a nice room to sleep in, and treated us with the cordiality and kindness of a Christian and a gentleman. In these kind- nesses the Reverend Father Menetrey and the lay brother. Mr. Magean, cordially took part-all uniting in their endeavors to make us comfortable and feel at home.
"From the Reverend Mr. Hoecken I have the following particulars concerning
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the mission and the condition of the inhabitants in its vicinity: The mission was established nine years ago (in 1844), the whole country at that time being a vast wilderness. Its inhabitants were the Kalispelms. They lived mostly from the Kalispelm or Pend d'Oreille lake, down the Clark river to this point; they speak nearly the same language as the Flathead or Salish Indians. Another mission (St. Mary's) was at the same time opened among the last mentioned tribe.
"There are two lay brethren attached to the mission. One of these, Brother Francis, is a perfect jack of all trades. He is by turns a carpenter, blacksmith, gunsmith, and tinman-in cach of which he is a good workman. The other, Brother Magean, superintends the farming operations. They both worked hard in bringing the mission to its present state of perfection, building successively a windmill, blacksmith and carpenter's shops, barns, cowsheds, etc .. besides an excellent chapel, in addition to a large dwelling-house of hewn timbers for the missionaries.
"The church is quite large. and is tastefully and even beautifully decorated. I was shown the handsomely carved and gilded altar, the statue of 'Our Mother.' brazen crosses and rich bronzed fonts, work, which, at sight appears so well executed as to lead one to suppose that they all must have been imported. But no, they are the result of the patient labor and ingenuity of the devoted missionaries, and work which is at the same time rich, substantial and beautiful.
"Works of ornament are not their only deeds. A grindstone, hewn out of the native rock, and moulded by the same hand which made the chisel which wrought it; tinware, a blacksmith's shop, bellows, ploughshares, bricks for their chimneys, their own tobacco pipes, turned out of wood and lined with tin-all have been made by their industry. In household economy they are not excelled. They make their own soap, candles, vinegar, etc., and it is both interesting and amusing to listen to their account of their plans, shifts and turns in overcoming obstacles at their first attempts, their repeated failures, and their final triumphs.
"The mission farm consists of about 160 acres of cleared land. Spring wheat, barley, onions, cabbages. parsnips, peas, beets, potatoes and carrots are its principal products. The Indians are especially fond of carrots. Father Hoecken says that if the children sce carrots growing they must cat somc. Says he, 'I must shut my eyes to the theft, because they cannot, cannot, resist the temptation.' Anything else than carrots the little creatures respect. The Indians are very fond of peas and cabbage, but beets, and particularly onions, they dislike. The other productions of the farm are cattle, hogs, poultry. butter and cheese.
"Around the mission buildings are the houses of the natives. They are built of logs and hewn timber, and are sixteen in number. There are. also, quite a number of mat and skin lodges. Although the tribe is emphatically a wandering tribe, yet the mission and its vicinity are looked upon as headquarters."
Passing to a description of the Indians and the uplifting work of the missionaries, Dr. Suckley reported :
"They came among these Indians about nine years ago, and found them to be a poor, miserable, half-starved race, with an insufficiency of food and nearly naked, living upon fish, camas and other roots, and, at the last extremity, upon the pine-tree moss. Unlike the Indians east of the mountains, they had no idea of a future state or a Great Spirit ; neither had they any idea of a soul. They considered themselves to be animals, nearly allied to the beaver, but greater than the beaver-and why?
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Because, they said, 'the beaver builds houses like us, and he is very cunning too; but we can catch the beaver, and he can not catch us- therefore we are greater than he.' They thought when they died that was the last of them. While thus ignorant, it was not uncommon for them to bury the very old and very young alive, because, they said, 'these cannot take care of themselves, and we can not take care of them, and they had better die.'
"Of the soul they had no conception. In the beginning the priests were obliged to depend upon the imperfect translations of half-breed interpreters. The word 'soul' was singularly translated to the Indians, by one of these telling them that they had a gut that never rotted, and that this was their living principle or soul. The chief of the tribe was converted. and was baptized Loyola: the mass of the tribe followed their leader. They now almost all pray, have devotional exercises in their families, and seem in a fair way for further advancement.
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