CHAPTER XIII.

ST. IGNATIUS MISSION.

THE Mission had been established by Father De Smet and Father Hoecken on the banks of the Pend d'Oreille River, not far from the shores of the lake of the same name, as early as 1844. The location, however, proved unfavorable, it having been found subject top inundation at the melting of heavy snowfalls in the mountains. Furthermore, a better knowledge of the country led the missionaries to the conclusion that a more central spot with regard to different tribes would be preferable. Consequently, at the request of the Indians themselves the Mission was removed to what became afterward the Flat Hard Reservation, its present site.

This was the country of the upper Pend d'Oreilles, as well as the favorite resort of other tribes, both in winter and summer, since it abounded in the staples of Indian life, game, fish, roots, and berries, and furnished the best grazing for their ponies. The site had been pointed out to the Fathers by Alexander, the chief of the upper Pend d'Oreilles, who had accompanied Father De Smet time and again through the mountains, and it had been determined upon by them a couple of years before they actually occupied it. "I arrived at the place," says Father Hoecken, "on the 24^th of September (1844), and found it as it had been represented, a beautiful region, evidently fertile, uniting a useful as well as pleasing variety of woodland, prairie, lake and river."

The place was called by the Indian Siniélemen, which means meeting-place, or rendezvous, and is beyond doubt one of the finest, if not the best finest and prettiest spot in Montana.

The valley is from ten to twelve miles wide, and runs some thirty miles from south to north. It is bounded on the east by a spur of the main range; south and west by a lower ridge which, starting just back of the Missions at almost a right angle, runs some ten miles west, and then, turning northward, continues in almost a parallel line to the mountains on the east.

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side of the valley. At its northern extremity lies Flat Head Lake, a large and beautiful sheet of water, some forty miles in length and about ten miles wide, dotted with picturesque islands.

The south end of the valley is but six miles from Ravalli, a station on the Northern Pacific Railway, whence it is easily reached by a natural opening in what at first appears a barrier, of impassable mountains. The angels and the Indians, and they alone, know of this opening and of its leading to the charming valley beyond. From the north of the opening, just wide enough for a team to pass, a wagon road of easy grade built by the Fathers winds its way up a little ravine, now to the right, now to the left, now along the mountain side.

As the road ascends, the canyon ahead becomes gradually wider. A climb of less than a couple of miles from the mouth of the little ravine brings us to the summit of the low divide between the Mission and the Jocko, whence, looking northward to the left, the first glimpse is had of the open country; while directly in front appear the lofty tops of the Mission Range which, as the road by a gradual descent advances toward it, rises higher and higher under our eyes.

We now near the last ridge or elevation that still hides from our view the south portion of the valley, and as we reach the top, an enchanting panorama and soul-absorbing sight bursts upon us. The scene is one of matchless beauty and surpassing grandeur, the like of which we believe is not to be seen anywhere else in the Northwest. The mountains in front abruptly and without approaches rise like a wall, and in all their might and stupendous magnificence reach up into the sky some 8,000 feet from the valley below and this, so to day, at one leap. We have now full view of the whole valley, and also of the mountains from base to top. These, up to a certain height are covered with grass; then with a belt of timber, while above the timber line they rise into rugged, frowning peaks that are capped with snow almost the year round. Between these peaks are glaciers

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and perpetual snows, which feed a number of ice-cold and crystal streams that irrigate the valley, and whose meandering course if marked by fringes of deeper green and more luxuriant vegetation.

The two highest, forbidding peaks or crests in front are the Twin Sisters; and Elizabeth Falls is the name of the white, tapelike and foamy streak, a little to the left of us. They were so christened, crests and falls, by General Thomas Francis Meagher when a guest of the Mission, just a few months before he was engulfed in the turbid waters of the Missouri near Fort Benton. These waterfalls are nearly 4,000 feet high, but it is only by going near them at the head of the canyon, that they can be seen to advantage.

Lake McDonald and St. Mary's Lake, the former a few miles northeast and the latter a little farther off to the southeast of the Mission, and other smaller bodies of water, in so many pocket-like basins, higher up in the mountains, add beauty and romantic variety to the landscape, which cannot fail as the writer believes, to become ere long a special attraction for the tourist and the lover of nature.

The Mission, nestling close to the foot of the huge, bold mountains, appears almost like a fairy-land village, and is indeed a jewel whose beauty is enhanced by the setting.

Fathers Adrian Hoecken and Joseph Menetrey picked out the site and erected there a cabin. Some of the stock was moved thither in the spring of the following year, 1854. Brothers Chaessens, McGean and Specht were among the first to reach the place.

The Mission has since become the finest institution of its kind in Montana. Its growth has been gradual, for what people now admire at St. Ignatius is the result of half a century's hard toil on the part of the missionaries. And by what is now admired, we do not mean, exactly, the stately buildings that replace the log huts of former days, but the complex of all that is implied in the transformation of wild, roving savages into a civilized, industrious and fervent Christian community such as is the Mission of St. Ignatius.

Bless the souls of those veracious Indian Agents who, as would appear from their official reports, have civilized whole

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tribes of redskins during a couple of years' residence among them! They may have succeeded, forsooth, in coaxing some Indian buck to crops his flowing hair and put on a pair of trousers. But once this has been accomplished, we are told that the natives now "wear citizens' clothes," and are, of course, civilized; since with Government officials, a with some others, short hair and breeches are the chief criterion of Indian civilization. Accordingly, there can be no doubt that the quality and quantity of their civilization would be noticeably increased by a pair of cuffs and a whole collar.

It is true that some grievous offences against life and morals have been committed on the reservations since Christianity was established among the Indians. But, then, it is also true that the offences, without exception, were due to one or the other of the following causes: first, liquor dealt out to the Indians by greedy and unscrupulous whites; secondly, remissness and miscarriage of justice by allowing criminals to go Scott free; thirdly, the villainy of outlaws from other tribes, who were never brought under the influence of religion and abused the hospitality given them within the reservation; lastly, atrocious murders of peaceful and innocent Indians by white people, which provoked retaliation at the hands of some relative of the victims.

We instance Pierre Paul and his three companions executed at Missoula, December 19, 1890. Of these four redskins criminals, two, Lalassi and Pierre Paul were Spokanes; and the other others, Pascal and his accomplice, were Kootenays. The brother of Lalassi had been murdered by a white some time before; while Pierre Paul counted three near relatives, his father, an uncle, and a cousin, all murdered in a few years' time by white people. Both he and Lalassi became desperate outlaws, with a price set upon their heads. Pascal's, as well as his accomplice's crimes were likewise, at least partially, Indian vendetta for the killing of the chief's son and others of their tribe by whites. We need not add that in every one of these cases, as in almost every other instance of Indian lawlessness, whether within or without the reservation, firewater, or liquor, was never wanting as a concomitant or antecedent, to incite the savage to the evil deed.

Still, everything considered, we are ready to affirm that the

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Indians of the Flat Head reservation, through the teachings and civilizing influences of Christianity have today a record for moral conduct that compares favorably with that of any white community of equal numbers.

And here let us render with pleasure a well-deserved need of praise to Major P. Ronan, who has been the U. S. Agent in charge of these Indians for the last fourteen years, and who by his faithful and efficient administration of the affairs of the Agency, no less than by the exemplary conduct of his family, has done much toward promoting the welfare of his charges, and toward bringing about some of the happy results referred to above.

But it is time to enter more particularly into our subject and detail the history of the Mission and its progress.

Father A. Hoecken said the first Mass in the open air in the presence of a large number of Upper and Lowe Kalispels. In a few weeks, several structures were erected, a chapel, two small houses, together with two shops, one for blacksmithing, the other for carpentry work, wigwams springing up at the same time all around in considerable number. About Easter, over one thousand Indians of different tribes, Upper Kootenays, Flat Bows, Pend d'Oreilles, Kalispels and Flat Heads had arrived to make their permanent home at the new Mission, or in its immediate vicinity. Some 18,000 rails were cut and split during the winter under the direction of good Brother McGean, and by early spring a large field was fenced in and put under cultivation.

Lieut. John Mullan, who was engaged at this period in exploring the Bitter Root Valley and contiguous country, lent some assistance to the Fathers in starting the Mission. "I know not," wrote Father Hoecken to Father De Smet, October 18, 1855, :how to acquit the Genealogybug2005 t of gratitude I owe to this excellent officer. I can only pray, poor missionary as I am, that the Lord may repay his generosity and kindness a hundredfold in blessings of time and eternity."

In the summer of the same year, 1855, a great Indian Council was held at Hell's Gate, a few miles below the present site of Missoula. A treaty was here made between the United States, represented by Governor Isaac J. Stevens, and Victor, the chief of the Flat Heads, and the chiefs of the Pend d'Oreilles, and

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The Kootenays who dwell in the vicinity of Flat Head Lake. By this treaty the present reservation was carved out and set apart for the exclusive occupancy of these Indians, designated in the contract as "The confederated Tribes of Flat Head, Pend d'Oreilles and Kootenays." All the rest of the large territory, which the Indians claimed as their own, and which extended from near the forty-second parallel to the British Line, with an average breadth of two degrees of latitude, was ceded to the Untied States.

Chief Victor, however, and his whole nation opposed such a contract and would not consent to it, unless they could remain in the bitter root Valley, the home of their tribe from time immemorial. Accordingly a special clause had to be inserted in the treaty to this effect, and then chief Victor and the other leading men of the tribe accepted and signed the treaty.

Be it noted, however, that the concession made in favor of the Flat Heads was conditional; in other words, it authorized them to occupy the Bitter Root Valley so long as the Government did not require them to move to the general reservation on the Jocko. Consequently, the clause referred to by the condition attached to it, took from the Flat Heads far more than it gave them; it deprived them of the right to hold their land in perpetuity; whilst it empowered them to occupy it conditionally for the time being. It seems certain that the full meaning of the clause was not understood by the Flat Heads. Hence the subsequent difficulties with regard to the matter, which are touched upon elsewhere in this narrative.

At the special request of Governor Stevens, Father Hoecken assisted at the Council and his signature appears on the document. He also attended the council held with the northern tribes shortly after.

By some of the stipulations of the Hell's Gate Treaty, the Indians were to have school teachers, a blacksmith, a carpenter, etc., and the Fathers and brothers at the Mission were instructed to carry out, in the name of the government, this part of the agreement. They did so cheerfully, and continued to do the same for a long time; but theirs was only the privilege of doing the work, whilst remuneration seemed to be entirely lost sign of, or stranded on the way. "We have done and shall continue

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to do all in our power for the Government officers," write Father Hoecken to Father De Smet; "our brothers assist the Indians and teach them hot to cultivate the ground; our blacksmith works for them; he repairs their guns, their knives, and their axes; the carpenter renders them great assistance in constructing their houses, by making the doors and windows; in a work, all we have and all we are is sacrificed to their welfare,. Still, our poor Mission has never received a farthing from the Government."

The school provided for in the treaty was also started by Father Hoecken, but it had to be shut down soon after, for want of means. The funds promised for the purpose by the Government were not forthcoming, and not until eight years after could the Mission succeed in supporting a small school entirely at its own expense.

In the latter part of 1856, the Indian tribes along the lower Columbia, making common cause with the Indians of Northern California, broke out into open warfare against the whites. This was a critical period for all the Indian Missions in the Rocky Mountains. The unrest among the natives became general, the northern Indian sympathizing with his brethren in the lower country. "I fear a general uprising among the Indians toward the commencement of spring," Father Ravalli wrote to his Superior. And there can be no doubt that but for religion, which exercised a restraining influence over our Indians, the dreaded uprising with all its attendant horrors would have become a stern reality.

But when the lower country was filled with wars and rumors of wart, everything remained quiet at St. Ignatius, where Father Hoecken and his companions were proceeding in their peaceful work of improving the Missions. Father N. Congaito, the general Superior, who visited St. Ignatius in the summer of 1856, wrote of Father Hoecken: "He does the work of several men and has succeeded in uniting together three nations under his spiritual jurisdiction."

As to material improvement, we may first mentioned the erection of a flour mill, the stones or buhrs being quarried from native rock, the same hands that cut the stones making the toots to cut them with. Together with the flour mill, a whipsaw mill

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was also constructed, the power for both plants being obtained from the stream close by, through a rave over one thousand feet long and five feet wide, made, bottom and sides, of hewn tamarack timbers.

Both mills were afterward enlarged and improved by the writer, and a dam thrown across the stream higher up, as well as a new race dug along the bank, gave to the Missions the present valuable water power. Both plants were still further improved at a later date by Father L. Van Gorp, who remodeled and almost entirely renewed them, equipping them, besides, with up-to-date machinery.

The whipsaw mill, though of limited capacity, furnished all the material for the construction of the larch church 40 X 100 feet with belfry over 100 feet high--a real marvel-- if we consider the scantiness of means at hand for its construction. The structure, frame, roof and all, was held together by wooden pins, nails in those days being still out of reach and if obtainable, their cost would have been prohibitive the columns of the nave, six on each side, were solid timbers, 18 inches in diameter and 15 feet high, and were turned by hand, the power being furnished by the strong arms of stalwart Indians. In this church there was a life-size crucifix carved by Father Ravalli, and it was a work "of rare merit for an amateur artist,' says the Rt. Rev. Bishop O'Connor, who visited the Mission in June, 1877.

The faith and fervor of the Indians are most edifying. Every day, winter and summer, year in and year out, as the first tap of the bell which summons them to Mass and instruction early in the morning, and to instruction again and night prayers in the evening, you see them all, men and women and children come out of their log cabins or tepees, and move toward the church. On Sundays and feast days of obligation or of special devotion, thrice in the day are they called to their devotions, and the bright, gay colors of their wrappings lend additional cheerfulness to the festive character of the occasion.

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The "fair-weather" Christian is unknown among these simple-minded people. Winter and summer, rain or shine, in the bitterest cold or the greatest heat, they can be seen plodding along through snow, slush, or mud on the way to church. When one of them dies he is accompanied to this last resting place by every member of the tribe in, or anyway, near the village; and many a white man, including the martyr of Alaska, the Most Rev. Archbishop Charles Seghers, has been moved to the depth of his soul by the devout impressiveness and sublime Christian simplicity of their funeral processions. One of the funeral dirges which these Indians sing to this day, when carrying their dead to rest is an old war song of theirs, a stirring wail of lamentation, which they used to sing over their braves fallen in battle. It was set to music with Christian words by Father Mengarini, but unfortunately, though the words are the same, the original setting is no longer extant, and the present rendering of the song is far from being correct.

Father Joseph Menetrey taught them to sing in Latin the ordinary of the Mass, as well as several of the Latin hymns usually sung at Benediction. They sing them to this day not only tolerably well, musically, but with a distinct and clear pronunciation of every word, which is indeed very remarkable for Indian throats. Still, we must admit that their congregational singing, particularly when the males join in, has ever been wild and savage-like. Bishop O'Connor has this to say of it: "It sounded as if a dozen, at least, of harmonious wolves were scattered among the congregation.' It has doubtless improved since the.

"As the Angelus bell rings," wrote the same Bishop, "I am struck by the suddenness with which they cause conversation, assume devotional postures, and retain them, statute-like, until the prayer is ended. On Sunday morning I said early Mass at the church. A great number went to communion. It was a novel sight to see the Indian mothers approach the altar-rail with their papooses on their backs; but after all, was it not a touching and beautiful one and pleasing to Him who said, "Suffer the little children to come to Me and forbid them not?"

Among them there are not a few daily communicants, a great many receive the sacraments weekly, others, every month; while

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those who receive them less frequently are the exception. On the principal feasts of the year, Christmas and Easter, and also on the feast of St. Ignatius, the Patron Saint, all the Indians gather at the Mission, some traveling as many as two or three hundred miles to be present on these occasions. The number of communions on such festivals varies from 800 to more than 1,000.

We cannot omit mentioning here a very peculiar feature, which, by way of preparation, used to precede in our days and in fact up to a short time ago, these great solemnities. Some two or three days before the feast, a kind of general assizes or open court would be held by the chiefs and head men in the presence of the whole tribe, and be conducted in a most solemn manner. Offenders against the law of the land and good morals were brought before the whole assembly. But frequently the culprits came forward of their own free will, even before any accusation had been lodged against them, and would confess their wrongdoing and ask their due punishment.

At a signal given by the great chief, the whole crowd fell on their knees, all praying together aloud for a space. After this, the culprits were examined, and if found guilty, they were sentenced and punished on the spot. A blanket or buffalo robe having been spread on the ground, the culprit came forward and stretched himself flat upon it. At another signal given by the chief, all again fell upon their knees, praying aloud for the reformation of the offender, while those appointed carried out the sentence on the bare back of the victim. The whipping was done with a horse-whip or a raw hide, and the number of stripes was proportioned to the nature of the offence and the back of the offender, women and young people being, usually, let off with a short and light discipline.

One day two Indians, one of them a Blackfoot adopted into the Pend d'Oreilles tribe, and the other a Kalispel, held a discussion among themselves, each claiming to be a better Indian than the other. The Blackfoot had been left by his wife and had taken unto himself another; while the Kalispel had left his first wife to go with another women. The point of issue before them was, which deserved less blame. Unable to decide the question of themselves, they brought the case before the writer.

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The controversy, so far as stated, was easy enough to settle, and even in the mind of the Kalispel himself, the point would have been in favor of his opponent, but for the following circumstances which he now proceeded to relate:

"Black Robe," said he, "listen and then decide." He went on to say that he had been married by Father Menetrey to such a one of the tribe, and at such a time, and that Father had given him a big head of cabbage, twice as large as their two heads put together, to feast upon at their wedding dinner, and that he himself had cooked the cabbage, and set it before the bride. "She scowled, Black Robe," continued he. "She took a mouthful, one, two three times, and each time spit it out, grimacing. I looked her in the eyes, and asked her why she acted so; and she made faces at me, Black Robe, saying : "You shut up; had I not married you, no woman in the camp would have taken you for a husband" I got angry, Black Robe, very angry; I rose without saying a word, and left her and the big cabbage, and mounting my horse, went down to my people to get another wife, to prove to my first wife that she had lied to me."

Some three years after, when he thought, when he thought his first wife fully convinced that some other woman would have married him, he returned to St. Ignatius, and presented himself to the chiefs to be chastised for what he had done. He was told to go and live with his first wife, his offence being condoned. "No," said he, "unless you give me whipping, I go back to the other woman;" and off he started. Some of the men were sent after him, and upon his return he was given the coveted castigation. He then returned to his first wife, and a happier couple could hardly be found thereafter.

The poor fellow did not know as yet that a good end does not make a bad means lawful, as evil may never be done that good may come of it; and with this ignorance in his favor, there is no doubt that the peculiar circumstances lessened considerably his guilt.

The custom of whipping did not originate with the missionaries, as some have wrongly stated. It existed among the natives before the coming of the Fathers. While still pagans, they believed that the chastisement wiped out the built of the action for which it was inflicted, and made full satisfaction for it.

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Hence the Fathers found it at times no easy task to convince them, even after their conversation, that they were obliged to confess the sins for which they had been whipped. Adultery, and violent anger were the offenses which the Indians, when still in the darkness of heathenism, punished by flogging. After becoming Christian, another offense was added to their penal code of their own accord, namely, disorderly conduct at church or during prayer.

Father Giorda once bethought himself of fostering the fervor and devotion of these good people by setting before them at the Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve an infant Jesus that raised its little arms and moved its eyes, while a tiny music box, close by but hidden from view, played the Adeste Fideles. He felt very confident that the pious device would bring home to the Indians and Divine mysteries of the Manger more vividly and with greater profit for this souls.

But to his great disappointment the result proved the very reverse of what he had expected. The artificial motions of the figure made the Indians look upon the thing as a "trick of the white man"; and with such an impression on their minds, the performing bambino lost for them all its religious and pious significance, and far from helping them to great fervor and increasing their devotion, it actually shocked and scandalized them. The incident is worth recalling for it goes to show that the so-called movies, when they enter the field of religion by the representations of sacred persons and things, are far from conducive to true piety.