Letter XXII,
TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS.
Indians of the Rocky Mountains.
ST. FRANCIS XAVIER, Feb. 4, 1856.
REVEREND FATHER:
I have just received a letter from Father Adrian Hoeken, dated Oct. 18th, at the united camp of the Flat-Heads and Pends-d'Oreilles, in the region of the great plains, east of the Rocky Mountains. The Indians had gone there to Attend -a peace council, held by order of the United States Government. Father Hoeken attended, at the express request of Governor Stevens of Washington Territory, who shows every regard to the Fathers, and whose reports to the President evince the lively interest which he feels in the improvement of the material condition of the Indians under our care.
The Black-Feet, Crows, Flat-Heads, Pends-d'Oreilles, Koetenays, and a great number of chiefs of other tribes attended the council.. It is to be hoped that the stipulations of the new treaty will be ratified by government. On the one hand, the Indians promise to remain at peace with each other; on the other, the whites and the government to aid them by subsidies in educating their children, and by farming implements to encourage them to leave their pomade life and settle in a convenient spot on their own lands. It is to be hoped that the council will succeed in realizing this laudable plan.
Father Hoeken tells me that the Indians of our missions west of the Rocky Mountains (the Flat-Heads, Pendsd'Oreilles, Pointed Hearts, Koetenavs, Skoyelpies, or Kettle-Falls Indians), continue, by their regular and religious conduct, to give the missionaries great consolation. He speaks also of the good dispositions of the -Crows, Black-Feet, and others east of the mountains. These Indians earnestly solicit missionaries. Colonel Cummings, superintendent of Indian Affairs, who presided at the great Indian council, assured me, on his recent return to St. Louis, that all the tribes of the Upper Missouri are devoted to us. He would gladly use his influence with government for the success of our missions among them. Before settting out for the council, he expressed the wish that I should accompany him to the great Indian assembly.
In a letter from Father Congiato, dated at Santa Clara, Nov. 29, that superior of the mission of California and Oregon, speaks of his visit to the missions in the mountains. It lasted three months. The following is an extract:
"The Fathers do much good in that remote region. Like his venerable brother, who died on the Missouri in 1851, Father Hoeken does the work of several men. He has succeeded in uniting three nations and a part of the Flat-Heads to live together under his spiritual direction.
"All was going on wonderfully well when I was in Oregon; now all is on fire. The Indians who live on the banks of the Columbia, from Walla Walla to the Dalles, have joined the Indians of northern California to make war on the Americans or whites, and commit great depredations. One of the Oblates (Father Pandory) has been massacred.* The last tidings which I received from the mission of St. Paul at
(* This was a false report.-ED. 25)
Colville, inform me that your Indians express their horror for the excesses committed by the Indians, and show no disposition to join them in the war. Pray for your fellow missionaries in Oregon."
Several papers in this country ascribe the origin of this war to the cruelties perpetrated by some whites on a peaceful and tranquil band of Indians. I do not think that our Indians will take the least part in the difficulties which have arisen between the Americans and the Indians of the Columbia. They will doubtless follow the advice of their missionaries, who will divert them from such a great danger and so sad a misfortune. Moreover, they are at some distance from the actual seat of war, and have had but trifling intercourse, if any, with the hostile tribes.
Do not forget me in your prayers, and obtain prayers for the wretched. I have just received a second letter from Father Hoeken from the Flat-Head village of St. Ignatius. He has several nations there. The conversions among the Indians have been very consoling and numerous in the course of last year.
In the name of all the Indians east and west of the mountains, he implores me to revisit them. The Black-Feet, Crows, Assiniboins, Sioux, and others, incessantly implore our aid. These nations are still very numerous. They number over 70,000 souls. Religious should, before all else, be children of obedience. It is the affair of our superiors. We shall never cease to aid them by our prayers, and commend them in a special manner to the remembrance of the pious.
Yours &c.
P. J. DE SMET, S. J.