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Show 4 4 4 fii4 44li 4 4 4 44 4 4 4-4- 4 4 4 4 44 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 (E. A. Bridger in the Catholic World for September.) The inexperienced traveler in the Northwest finds a constant source of amazement in the rude chapels which he encounters in all parts of this vast area, and the bronzed and hardened prospector and the veteran trapper, accustomed ac-customed as they are to the sight, can never fail to be impressed by these silent monuments to the d.-votio-n and sacrifice of those noble men who left behind them the hopes and ambitions of -early life to bring- to the Indians of that "region the light of the Gospel, to the advancement of which they had consecrated their lives. In Montana and Idaho the traveler find? these white crosses and tiny spires in the most unexpected places, and fhe surprise is invariably a pleasant one. No valley was too secluded and no mountain range too inaccessible for the zealous ardor of these black gowned messengers of peace, and no tribe was too fierce for their earnest endeavor. And thus it is that the white traveler from the gold hunter of the early days to the pleasure seeker of the ' present finds in lonely vale and upon towering reak the white cross which tells of saintly devotion to the Gospel Gos-pel of Peace. , The crucifix penetrated where the t-word was powerless in those days of old, and in the reclaiming of the wildernesses of the Northwest the priest ha.s played as important import-ant a part a,s the soldier. Without With-out their peaceful agency the white man's process would have been retarded re-tarded for years, and the settlement rf the fertile fields and the development develop-ment of the mines of wealth would have been seriously checked. The priest's was a peaceful mission. No trumpet of fame has ever heralded the noble deeds of sacrifice and devotion devo-tion wrought by these holy men. Their names are comparatively unknown, and their sole earthly reward is found in the veneration and respect ' entertained enter-tained for them by the sons of the forest and plain whom they came to reclaim for the kingdom of their Master. Long before the great northwest had teased to form a portion of "the great American Desert" of the atlas, these Mack-robed priests had begun their work of Christianity and civilization. The earliest of the gold-seekers found the Catholic missions an established feature of this unknown country, and the outposts of the fur companies were scarcely in advance of the westward march of these heralds of the Gospel, j They were more than priests. They-vere They-vere physicians, teachers, and counsellors. counsel-lors. Many a miner and trapper owes his life to the ministrations of these men. and to the Indian they are still in memory the embodiment of the peace and good will which they taught. At ihe name of Father Ravalli the sternest Indian will display emotion, and even old Chariot, the stubborn chief of the Bitter Root Valley Indians, In-dians, mentions his name with rever-ir.ee.- It was of these men that Long-t Long-t I'ow wrote: "Or, the western slope of the mountains moun-tains Dwells, in his little village, the Black Robe rhk-f of the mission: Much he teaches the people. And tells them of Mary and Jesus." It was nearly seventy years ago that fhe Indians of the tribes now represented repre-sented upon the Flathead Indian reservation reser-vation tirst learned of the Christian i liion. The bearers of the tidings w-re men of their own race Iroquois 'Mtaches of one of the fur companies, uho had been taught the new religion in the missions of the Mississippi val- j l"v. The story told by these mes- , M.'nj ers awakened a desire among the S. lish (Flathead?) to know more of the v..nd"iful religion, and to have among; them some of the white teachers of j Nun they had heerutold. Around the council fire the matter v.-as discussed again and again until, i in il. it was decided, to send repre-s. repre-s. ntatiws to St. Louis (2.000 miles distant dis-tant and known to the Indians through the fur traders) to secure for th.m'a Black Gown, who should tell them the story of the new religion. No tidings -wr cam back of this party, v hir-h probablv was exterminated by ! s-me of fhe hostile tribes through v hose territorv it hnd to pass. Un- I rlr unted bv this occurrence, a second i -legation was sent U rth. and this time j the Indians secured a prom is-? that a ! priest would be sent to them. Fnt'ion fly they waited until 173. when they srmt "a third embassy to the settle-r,utc settle-r,utc Tbis rartv was massacred by the Sioux, and still no priest came. Rut the defire for knowledge of the ii.-,v religion was so strong that the Indians were not deterred by the fad-is; fad-is; r i r these two suet cssive expeditions, nnd in lStf two young Iroquois braves s-t out to run the gauntlet of foes and ir, v.-nve Ihe hardships of Ihe long loin-new Th-'-ir attempt was. doubly mi,. ,.(.ssful. They made the journey safely and brought back with them F:ilhr de Sm't of the Society of :,if.c.B the viopeer of Christianity in the northwest. One of these young Indians, whom the fathers christened T',.t,.r, 7fi forward in haste to prenare hi lreot 'le for the -coming of the Rlaek Robe while the other, Ignatius, remained re-mained m accompany the missionary if)ng journey to an unknown land and an unknown neot.le. It was April. IMA. when Father De Smet and hi dusky companion joined a westbound west-bound caravan for the trio to the R.xkv Mountains. The priest was stricken with fever on the ?iiain. but ' recu-eved. and in June, at Green River in Wyoming, met a delegation sent by the trib to welcome him. (me month later. July 14? he met in the -vallev of the Bitter Root sixteen hundred " Indians Selish (Flathead) and Rend d'Oreilles and immcdiately bgan his labors as a missionary. It is related that Ihe chiefs of the assembled tribes offered him the temporal sovereignty sov-ereignty of their people. but ne tauehf them th: nis mission was St a different nature. The legends of the church have it that, on the evening of that day, "two thousand Indians reeided a prayer and chanted a hymn." Before the month had ended end-ed Father De Smet had baptized six hundred India is, and the new religion was well established in the wilderness. The brave old man remain, for several months studying the people and the country, and then decided to return to St. Louis for aid. The way was long and the journey perilous tribes of hostile hos-tile Indians occupying much of the intermediate in-termediate country but the black g-own of his society was a sure defence, de-fence, and. after many privations he reached hns friends, and in the spring of the following year returned to his Indian charges with two priests and three lay brothers of his order. These lay brothers were mechanics, and under their direction the first mission church in what is now Montana Mon-tana was erected. The location chosen was on the Bitter Root river near the present site of Stevensville. the exact spot being where the wagon bridge of that town now srans the clear blue stream which waters this remarkable valley. On Rosary Sunday, 1S41. a cross was raised, and tearful faces were turned toward Heaven while the pio-neer pio-neer of Christianity prayed for the sue- ' cess of this new mission. But the tears were tears of joy and hopefulness, and the fathers carried on their work unceasingly. un-ceasingly. Not only did they labor for the spiritual welfare of the red men, j but they also sought to improve their j physical condition. The Indians were' instructed in agricultural pursuits, which they eagerly followed, and their condition was materially improved. A chape! and a residence were completed com-pleted that year, and surrounded with a palisade for defence, for there were hostile tribes across the mountain ranre. This was the first mission in the Northwest, and here was planted the germ which was likened to a mustard seed. Faithfully and devotedly did the heroic priests labor in their new field, and the Eternal Father whom they served indeed blessed their efforts. In i the rude log church which was erected I in the shadow of the cross which was planted on that Rosary Sunday the faithful teachers led their savage charges in the way of Christian truth. Their dai!:'- life was one of constant i service and untiring devotion to duty. J They never faltered in the good work j which they had undertaken, and They ministered faithfully to the moral and physical needs of the Indians priests, teachers and physicians, as the case might be. j It is a source of regret that the log building which served them as a church 1 in these early days was afterward pull- j ed down when the permanent mission j was located a little farther up the i river. I After spending a busy year at the I mission, organizing the work and studying the needs of the new field, Father De Smet returned to St. Louis, ! and from there went to Europe, where ! he obtained new assistants to accompany accom-pany him to his field of labor in the I distant wilderness. In the latetr part of 1S43 they sailed from Antwerp for the Pacific Coast, the J party including several priests and lay , brothers, and six sisters of the Congre- ! gation of Our Lady. After an unevent- tul. although tedious, journey they j reached Fort Vancouver in August, j 1844. The fathers" and lay brothers then made the perilous overland .lour- ney to the Bitter Root valley in safety, and, with additional help, Father De Smet took up 'again the work which he had inaugurated three years before. Among the fathers who came with Father De Smet from Europe at this j time was Father Ravalli, the grandest j figure in al! the history of the North- west. A man of wonderful ability and j amazing capacity for work, he entered into the duties of the mission with a zeal which could have been inspired by-no by-no ordinary motive. His career has no parallel in the annals of civilization. He was a man among millions. With this strong support Father De Smet was able to accomplish much in the way of civilizing the Indians. The work progressed rapidly, and for six vears was uninterrupted. Then j the advent of the fur traders trad-ers caused trouble among the Indians, and the unbounded fth which they had had in the fathers was disturbed. The position of the missionaries mis-sionaries became" dangerous, and in lSiiO the mission was regretfully abandoned. aban-doned. For sixteen years it was unoccupied. un-occupied. One can imagine the grief of the fathers as they saw the results of their long vears of denial and labor swept away." and that by the faithlessness of Die' whites. .It was a sad blow, and the missionaries felt it keenly. They h?d possessed the unbounded confidence confi-dence of the red men until men of their own race set the example of perfidy per-fidy and fraud, which the Indians followed, fol-lowed, it must be confessed, more readily than they had learned the les son of the priests. The discontent or the hndians was aggravated by the I invasion of their hunting grounds and grazing lands by the trappers and traders, and they rebelled. The fathers driven out, the Indians soon relapsed into the old conditions and habits of their savagery, and it was not until 1SCG '"hat the mission was I reoccupied. In that year Father Ravalli Ra-valli returned to St. Mary's "dear old St. Mary's," he always called it--and he never left it attain. There his remains re-mains lie in the little graveyard near the church, amid scenes which he loved so dearly. . When he returned he found it necessary neces-sary to build a new church, and a location was chosen ahout a mile from the original site where the present buildines were erected. The work of the mission was carried on successfully until the Bitter Root Flathead Indians were removed to the Jocko agency. Since that time the church is but, rarely opened for service. It is only when occasionally a priest visKs the mission that the doors are opened, and the walls once more echo the chants and responses of the impressive Catholic Cath-olic service. Everything is preserved, however, as it was left when the mission mis-sion was regretfully abandoned by the priests and by the Indians. The latter now return frequently in family or tribal groups to visit the scenes so dear to them, and when they speak of the place R is always sorrowfully, for they were deeply attached to it, and suff er all the pangs -of homesickness for their fathers' home and the home of ! their own younger days. The buildings are all well preserved j and are scrupulously cared for by John j Rainsville. the custodian, who is al-I al-I ways willing to guide visitors through j the old structures, and who is eloquent ; in his quaint and earnest description of the work and achievements of "the old father." Under his escort it has been the good fortune of the writer to vi.c 1 these o! 1 buildings, hallowed by j srered associations, on several occa-i occa-i sions, and each time the impression I n .ttle has been deeper and more significant. sig-nificant. 1 he church pinner is l.rx." t feet, built of hewn logs and chinked with mortar. mor-tar. The f.mt of the building is clap-hoarded clap-hoarded nnd painted. The Ic, wills j are neatly, whitewashed, in the middle I of the front tower. feet square and twenty-five feet high, surmounted by I Extending north at a right angle ! from the rear corner of this building is i a line of sheds and poultry houses, and at right angles to these again are the stables and wagon 'sheds, all built by .those dauntless missionaries, and all still in iood repair. The workmanship of all is excellent, Surmounting tne pyramidal roof ,t the dove cote is a weathercock, fashior.ed, it is said, . by Father Ravalli from un old tin can, and btill showing traces of the bright col-: col-: ors with which it was originally decked. deck-ed. It shows how the great mind found recreation and enjovmen". in little thinsrs. It has been hesrged by scores of people, but the place will not be despoiled by relic hunters while ' vigilant vigi-lant John Rainsv'Te is in charge. Across the front of the mission building is a'row of stately cottonwood trees, nlanty more than thirty years ago by the priests, forming a delightful yer, while he was MoKeon's assistant, ' he was engaged in many celebrated cases. He prepared the evidence en which the British minister. Sir John Crampton. and two llritish consuls ' were ordered out of the country for J violating the neutrality laws. As recorder re-corder he was feared by ail criminals. ; He had no sympathy for the habitual j offender, he was rarely lenient to such, j and it is said that he pronounced more ! death sentences than any other man who was recorder for the same length 'of time. Among the celebrated trials j over which he presided were those of I Carlyle Harris, Dr. R. W. Buchanan, j Danny Driscoll. ''Frenchy" and "Biff" i Eiison. John W. Goff defeated Smyth for recorder in the election whi m put l4.4 -t- 4-t-4 4 V4 4 4 4 44 4 4 44 4 4 4"4 4444 4 ftttf !4 7 : Wa MImM Who A : : - &i2 i ilk - It t : : : i ' " "toNE OF THESE YOUNG INDIANS, WHOM TILE FATHEBS CHRISTENED PETER, SET FORWARD IN I HASTE TO PREPARE HIS PEOPLE FOR THE COMING OF THE -BIACK ROEE, WHILE THE Z, OTHER, IGNATIUS. REMAINED TO ACCOMPANY THE MISSIONARY ON HIS LONG JOURNEY T04 "T AN UNKNOWN L AND AND AN UNKNOWN PEOPLE. IT WAS APRIL, 1840, WHEN FATHER "" DE SMET AND HIS DUSKY COMPANION JOINED A WEST-BOUND CARAVAN FOR THE TRIP TO THE RCCKY MOUNTAINS. THE PRIEST WAS STRICKEN WITH FEVER ON THE PLAINS, BUT4 RECOVERED, AND IN JUNE, AT GREEN RIVER, IN WYOMING, MET A DELEGATION SENT BY4 THE TRIBE TO WELCOME HIM. 4 4444444444444444444444444 4 44 4 4444444 4 4 4 44 44444 4 44444444 an octagonal belfry, in which swings a. small bell. The interior is still furnished the f.l-tar f.l-tar with its images and candelabra; the nave with chairs, many of them made by the fathers and lay brothers by hand labor; the little gallery with wooden benches. Everything is as clean as if service was to he held there immediately. Half way down the nave is a diminutive confessional, formed bv a small latticed screen built out from the wall. As the visitor Razes at this, he can fancy the vend ible father listening with averted head to the self-Rccusations self-Rccusations of his dusky charges, and dismissing them in peace. In fact, everything about the mission is tenderly tender-ly suggestive of some phase of the life of this remarkable man. Adjoining the church at the rear, and communicating with it by a small door i opening at one side of the altar, is a I low, one-story log building of one j room, whicli was evidently used by Father Ravalli as a study. Here is his heavy, old-fashioned mahogany secretary, secre-tary, still containing many of his papers, pa-pers, and upon the walls are religious pictures, as he hung them years ago. Here the zealous priest performed per-formed much of his work, planning for the improvement of his charges, and for the advancement of his church. It is a room which has played a vitally important part in the history of Montana. Mon-tana. Back of this second building, and attached to it. is a p'Jil olwer, one, which, while apparently " built at an earlier time, yet forms a portion of the united structure. In' this room Father Ravalli died. Here is his medicine med-icine chest, irom . which he administered adminis-tered to the physical ailments of all who suffered. Here, too, is the bed upon which Father Ravalli spent the last few years of his: life, hopelessly crippled, yet always cheerful, and from which his soul took flight to the eternal reward so richly won. One cannot help but pause here and gaze reverently about him. It is a hallowed hal-lowed spot. It preaches a silent sermon ser-mon of devotion and self-denial that even the most heedless must consider. Opening from the rear of this room are the kitcjien, dining room and store room used by Father Ravalli and his associate, the venerable Father D'Aste. j ; ..... - i . j foreground to the picture presented by I the historic group of buildings. I Such is St. Mary's Mission today. A j monument to bravery as great as was I ever recorded in history's pages; to. de-I de-I votion as unceasing as was ever sung by minstrel or by bard; of a zeal un-I un-I surpassed in the annals of the church; of c- genius which shines more bril-; bril-; liantly as passing years enable a fuller j comprehension of its grandeur. It tells the story of the sublime devotion of a master mind to a beloved cause. I "Greater love 'hath no. man than this, that he lay down his life for his friend." |