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Show V M M, ii w i I LJJJi.',," 1 11 n I . ' , j 1 7j I'll TkF"""" w h Iff I I " T?L;if co" Vl - SM&ffl PV I ' ' rub J--- J . I ht- SvS; thu sm$mm&m$y trom mac . the iHiAM A M A rj 0 Klver vnlley. or ln I'lerre's Hole under the Tetons. lf & ,f 7'? $i 4 at this outpost of civilization. Their presence Htf ! By JOHN DICKINSON SHERMAN there Is a story In Itself. The restoration of the WL Ufyfct&"M ---ASCINATINa are the "Decisive Battles Sodety of Jesus , 1SH nfter 41 of V V ' '1 I of the World"-lf not ln themselves as gion. found a few old Jesuit priests at Whltemursh, F" iAV ' X,VWJJVWjl , r , battles, then in their effects upon his- Md-i who had established there the first novitiate . VfS.ji'C . th( IToT tory. But many an armed contest in the United States. In 1S23 an offer of land at 'yiiW,YMhh'it' aU 1..J rather a skirmish from a military St. Louis was made to them. Twelve set out for JZ&'IV vUSto:u.4 ,le r-'-i-' vlswnnlnt Ihnn A "decisive" enUUge- Cf T a ii ii By JOHN DICKINSON SHERMAN ASCINATINO are the "Decisive Battles of the World" If not ln themselves as battles, then ln their effects upon history. his-tory. But many an armed contest rather a skirmish from a military viewpoint than a "decisive" engagement engage-ment has had far-reaching results which moke a fascinating story. For example : Chnmplaln, ln discovering the lake that bears his name, used his arquebuses arque-buses on a band of Indians from the Iroquois Confederacy and set them running home to the Mohawk valley of New York. jThls was In 1C09, two years after the founding of Jamestown, eleven yenrs before the landing of the ipllgrlms and eighty years hefore the beginning of the armed clash between the French and English lor the possession of America. It is a far cry from 1G09 to 1922; from New York to Montana; from Iroquois to Flathends. Just the same, it was Champlaln who set the feet ;. ' of Marcus Whitman and Father Pierre-Jean De Bmet, 8. J., on the Oregon Trail two centuries later. Marcus Whitman, Presbyterian missionary, patriot, statesman und martyr, saved Oregon and the Pacific Northwest for the United States. Fa-j Fa-j therDe Smet, greatest and most practical mission ary who ever labored among the American Indians, In-dians, dotted the far Northwest with religious and educational establishments, kept many a aavage tribe from the warpath and served well the government of his adopted land. The history of the American Northwest cannot be told without Whitman nnd De Smet both of whom Champluln atarted over the Oregon Trail to everlasting fume. And here la the story ln brief, with Its fascinating aequlturs sequences of cause and effect: Tho Iroquois Confederacy, because of Cham-jilaln's Cham-jilaln's attack, swore undying enmity to the French. The Indians of this unique confederacy 'Mohawks, Cayugns, Onondngas, Se.iecus, Oneldas nod Tuscaroras by the time the French and British Brit-ish came to grips In 1CS0, were dictatorial overlords over-lords of all the tribes from Hudson's bay to the Cherokee frontier of the Carolina nnd from the Connecticut to the Mississippi. Their geographical geograph-ical location and Influence gave them the balance of power between the French nnd the British. They were a big factor In the several wars which finally resulted In the expulsion of the French alter lis capture of Quebec by V.Vlfe In 1"'0. , In the Revolution all the Iroquois kept on siding with the British, except the Oneldas and part of the Tuscnrorns. They laid waste the American frontl'er. Sullivan led nn American punitive expedition expe-dition and destroyed their homes, crop and orchards. or-chards. The outcome of the Revolution drove the four hostile tribes to Canada. In Canada many of the exiled Iroquois were Christianized by Jesuit missionaries, whose principal prin-cipal work In America had been In New France and the French possessions. In 1810 a party of 24 Iroquois left the Roman Catholic mission of Cuughnawagn, Canada, on the - Ft. Lawrence and struck out across the Mississippi valley. They ended up among the Flutheads of ; the Bitter Root valley. TIicrc Iroquois were led by Ignntlus La Mousse (Old Ignace), who achieved a dominating Influence among the Flutheads, taught them the rites of the Roman Catholic religion re-ligion nnd created a tribal desire for the presence of Blnckrobes (Jesuit missionaries) which resulted in a decision in 1S.')0 to send a delegation to the white man's country to ask for them. Here It Is profitable to glance tit the chronology of this part of the West, which was Just beginning to get acquainted with the white man. St. Louis was founded In 17GS. The Lewis nnd Clark expedition expe-dition (1S01C) hnd passed through their country. John Colter bad discovered the Yellowstone In 1S07, only to have It ridiculed ns nn impossibility and dubbed "Colter's Hell." Astorln had been established In 1812. Oen. William 11. Ashley nnd bd nssoclnJe of the Rocky Mountain Fur company, with headquarters at St. Louis, had begun to use the Oregon Trail so"ti after 1S22 Ui LheJx trips to , and from the annual rendezvous In the Oreen jjk River valley, or in Pierre's Hole under the Tetons. 1, Four braves volunteered to enrry the request for Bluckrobes to St. Louis. There were Blarkrobes at this outpost of civilization. Their presence there Is a story In Itself. The restoration of the Society of Jesus In 1814, after 41 years of suppression, suppres-sion, found a few old Jesuit priests at Whltemarsh, Md., who had established there the first novitiate in the United States. In 1823 an offer of land at St. Louis was made to them. Twelve set out for St. Louis April 11, 1811. They wnlked all the way, carrying their goods In wagons. Among them was young De Smet, who hnd come from Belgium ln 1821 at the age of twenty. In 1827 he was ordained or-dained priest. In 1831 the Missouri mission was made Independent. In 1834 the petition of the Second Provincial council at Baltimore that the Indian Roman Catholic missions of the United States be confined to the Society of Jesus was granted at Rome. Thus the Jesuits entered upon a virgin field of labor of more than hulf the area of the United States. The four Flatheads Joined the 1831 return train of William L. Sublette, one of the famous Rocky Mountain Fur company's traders, and reached St. Louis October 1. They presented their petltlop to Bishop Rosatl. Two of the Indians fell 111. They died and were burled In the Roman Catholic cemetery. The two survivors left St Louis the following spring, but never reached home. They may be the two Indians George Cat-lin Cat-lin painted Nos. 207 and 208 ln his gallery of Indian paintings. This unique request from the Flatheads gained nation-wide publicity. A sympathetic account was published In the Chrlstlnn Advocate. In 1833 an editorial In the Christian Advocate pronounced It a cnll to the Christian conscience of the world and exhorted the Protestant churches to take It UD In earnest. In those days, to the East, the name Flathead included nil the tribes In the vast area from Montana to the mouth of the Columbia and northward Into Canada. The Methodists raised funds end In 1834 started a missionary expedition tinder the leadership of Jason Lee of Canada. The pmy kept on past the Bitter Root country and began operations nea the mouth of the Columbia. The Presbyterians In 18:5.1 sent Marcus Whitman to Oregon. He returned, reported, and In 183G went buck with his wife nnd a party to begin his labors at Waiilatpu among the Cayuses. Thus the net result of the first Flathead expedition expe-dition to St. Louis for Blnckrobes In Montana was Protestant missionaries In Oregon. The Flatheads of Montana tried a second tl"ie to get a Blackrobe. In 1835 Old Ignace with his sons Charles and Francis went to St. Louis and returned the following spring with the promise that a Bluckrobe would be sent In tlma. In 1837 the Flatheads started their third deputation. deputa-tion. In consisted of Old Ignace, three Flathends nnd a Nez Perce. All were massacred by Sioux en route to St. Louis. Not In the least disheartened by these three failures, the Flatheads sent to St. Louis a fourth time. The two petitioners. Young Ignace and Pierre Gaucher, traveled safely by canoe down the Yellowstone and Missouri und arrived October 21," 18"9. Bishop Rosatl promised them a Blackrobe the following spring. Gaucher immediately set out with the good news. He arrived In the Bitter Root valley early In the Rprlng a most remarkable remark-able Journey. Father De Smet volunteered for the arduous mission. At Westport (Kansas City) ho Joined the 1810 expedition of the American Fur company to the Green River rendezvous. There De Smet found Gaucher and ten Flathends to meet him. They vent to Pierre's Hole, where were encamped the main body of tie Flutheads, who had come WX) miles to meet bin, together with bands of Nez Perces, I'end d'Orellles and Knllspels about t.fiOO In all. He baptized and Instructed, postponed bis lsit to the Bitter Root and reached St. Louis by way of the .Tefrcrson and Missouri rivers December Decem-ber 31, IS 10 lie was t.l en Informed that there were no funds for the I 'l l dsed expdit' n. So he went out and raised fi"iR The. Kpt'lv of 1811 found him on the 0iv2'!'l '-i'a'.l, vrfir.i:-- nlod by two prlenta and y K M. ASwWW ' t three lay brothers. ,At Fort Hill on the Snake river In August he was met by an advance party of Flni heads. Passing through the site of Missoula, Mis-soula, they went 30 miles Into the Bitter Rool valley, arriving September 24. There nnd then De Smet begnn work on St. Mary's mission. De Smet. ln the spring of 1842, made a Journey of Inspection as far as the mouth of the Columbia That fall found him again ln St. Louis. In 1843 he solicited for the mission south to New Orleans and east to Boston, and took three recruits and supplies to Westport nnd started them west. Then he set sail for Europe. After visiting the principal cities of six countries he embarked at Antwerp December 12, 1843, with four fathers, a lay brother nnd six sisters and supplies. The voyage was around Cape Horn. They were nearly wrecked on the Columbia river bar, but landed safely July 31, 1844, and went at once to the Bitter Bit-ter Root mission. These Bitter Root Flatheads, by the wny, seem to have been too good to be true. .All explorers, traders and travelers bear witness to their high moral character and attractive ways. De Smet says of them: "I was not able to discover among these people the slightest blameworthy net, unless It was their gambling, in which they often venture everything they possess. These games were unanimously abolished, as soon ns I had explained to them that they were contrary to the commandment of God. ... I have often asked myself: 'Is It these people whom the civilized nations dare to call by the name of savages?'" De Smet then passed two strenuous years In exploring, visiting tribes and establishing missions. He arrived at St. Louis December 10, 1840. ' What had he accomplished In the seven yenrs since he first bit the Oregon Trail? For one thing, bis labors, travels, hardships and perils liehmg In the first rank of similar exploits. He hud traveled nearly oO.txxi miles ln every sort of conveyance und In every kind of climate. As he once wrote: "I was two years In the mountains without tasting tast-ing bread, salt, coffee, tea, sugar. I was for years wlltbout a roof, without a bed. I hnve been six months without a shirt on my back, and often I have passed whole days and nights without a morsel mor-sel of anything to eat." These arduous labors had at least this reward: He had become a great power among the Indian tribes. AH knew him. either personally or by reputation. rep-utation. Also he was perhaps the one white man whom all trusted. So trusted was be that the United States government at least five times ssked bis services as a mediator with various tribes. The ordinary, usual settlement of the Bitter Root country began In 1 S" 4 at Missoula now a modern city of 15.00(1, which played host last summer sum-mer to the National Editorial association. The Flatheads are Its near neighbors on a reservation they have occupied since 1801. The 1022 equivalent of De Smet's establishment In 1841 f St- Mary's mission In the Bitter Root vulley Is the Mission of St. Ignatius and the Sisters Sis-ters of Charity of Providence at St. Ignatius In the present Flathead reservation lying between Missoula and Flathead lake. The original St. Mary's In the Bitter Root valley Is now Stevens-IIle. Stevens-IIle. There stands St. Mary's church, built by l'utber Anthony Ravalli In ls'0. This "kind, good priest and friend of nil mankind" arrived at the mission In ls4." and for forty years ministered to ah ulllfp. Indian and white man, Roman Catholic r,ud Protestant. Ills tombstone stands In the coin-etcry coin-etcry buck if St. Mary's and Ravalli, a town In tie Jotko ii Hey, bears hi a name. |
