Spokane County, Washington - Chapter 4: Whitmax Mission at Wai-Il-At-Pu, 1900

A history of any portion of the "Inland Empire" cannot 'be complete that fails to give a prominent place to the heroic and martyred IMissionary, Marcus Whitman. He estaljlished the first missionary station in eastern \\'ashington, six miles from Walla Walla. From his station, Wai-il-at-pu. came the first | missionaries t(.> the Spokane Indians. Rev. , Samuel Parker was instrumental in leading Dr. Whitman to become a missionary to Oregon, and Whitman led Rev. H. H. Spalding.

]\larcns Whitman was born at Rushville, Yates county, Xew York, September 4, 1802, | and descended from a Xew England stock I characterized by a proportionate blending of the intellectual and moral, and I'emarkable for longevity. He was reared amid the environments of a pioneer home, and was made familiar with the prixations incident to such life, which, other things being equal, tend generally to promote true manliness. His father dying when he was but eight years old, necessitated on his part the early exertion of physical and intellectual powers, resulting in a well develoiied jjodv, and a wholesome degree of selfreliance, independence, determination and purpose in life.

He was a man of medium height. S(juarely built, of nughty endurance and iron ner\e: indomitable pluck, inflexible resolution, great ' practical sagacity and genuine religious devotion,

"He was as silent as Grant, as resolute as Thomas, as prophetic as Wendell Phillips, as daring as Custer: he entered life quietly and took up first the task which lay nearest to his hand, that of a physician. His earnest desire was the ministrv, but the wav did nut

>cem to open. Later in his leisure hours, he built a sawmill and gained the knowledge of tools. He worked and waited, ileveloping himself for whatever call his country or the world might have for him." The call came to go to the unknown regions of the west. Starting in the spring of 1836, we find Marcus Whitman, M. 1)., and wife. Rev. H. H. Spalding and wife, of whom we shall have more to record, and Mr. W. H. Gray ready to start on their long journey to the far away Oregon. It was a scene that would liave deliglited the heart of angelic beings. Five brave hearts with the power of the Holy Spirit upon them, undertaking a task that seemed to need superhuman courage. In the name of the Most High God. and relying upon His grace, they are determined to face obstacles and perils indescribable, and enter upon a great and glorious mission, nothing less than the civilizing and christianizing of the wild savages of the far west. For though three had preceded them as missionaries, yet they were the ones that introduced Cliristian civilization among the natives of the I'acific Northwest. They were the primary agencies in destroying the monstrous monopoly of the Hudson's Bay Company, which for a century and a half utilized the northern portion of this continent for fur and pel fry. They were the John the Baptist preparing the way for the coming multitudes, and the heralds of the great coming immigration of fanfily life. At St. Louis they found the American Fur Company preparing for its annual expedition to the mountains. At Council Bluft's they joined the great caravan with dbout two hundred persons in all and six hundred animals. They had lieen repeatedly warned on tlie way of the presumpticjn uf attempting to take their wives across the plains and o\er the mountains. The officials of the American Fur Company remonstrated against assuming the responsibility of protecting them, and only yielded because of the service rendered them by Dr. Whitman during their trip the previous season.

On they went, day by day, the monoti.Miv of the jdurney being bmken In' interruptions of various kinds and scenes of perpetual variations. Who can conceive of the obstacles they had to encounter as they moved along the vast prairies where the antelopes and bufTalos roved, thruugh the dense forests, across swamps and wide and deep rivers overflowing their banks. But the courage of the \V(jmen never failed them. Mr. Spalding, on account of the frequent misfortunes and the feebleness of his wife, was sometimes ready to give up in despair, but Mrs. Spaldiiig would invarialjlv express the determmation to press on towards their destination or die in the attempt. She ga\'e ex'idence of phenomenal endurance. Being feeble when they started she suffered much un the way. At one time she failed to keej) uj) with the company and it was thought that she c<nild not H\e, but she rallied again and was spared to do a great work among the Indians, especially in translating portions of the Scriptures and some hymns into the Nez Perce language. The mountain men acted especially gallant towards these women.

The true nobility of the women seemed to impress them. They felt honored in liaving them m the country. .\ mountain man is reported to liave said, pointing to them : "There is something the Honorable Hudson's Bay Company can not e.xpel from the country." How true these words pr(j\ed to be, for the advent of these women was the Ijeginning of a new era in the history of the I'acitic Xorthwest. In this company we truly find the elements or germs of Christian civilization. .Something j that cannot be expelled or suppressed. Willi i them we find a quart of wheat, the Bible, and two wives. This meant the tilling of the soil, cultivated farms, harvest fields. Hour mills,, pure morality, light of the Gospel, family life., the Christian home and nurture.

The journey lasted from March to September, 1836, marked not only by the presence of the women but also by the successful effort of Dr. Whitman to take with them, on its wheels, the first wagon iiUo lliis country.

Dr. Whitman established a mission nn the Walla Walla river. This is no place to give particulars as to this mission or enter into au\- contro\ersial points, but to deal with facts, for despite the cavil and slur and doubts of some historians, it is a fact as "clear as the noon-day Sim" that Dr. Whitman, moved by patriotic motives, d.id make the l(_>ng ride from Oregon to \\ ashington. D. C, in the winter of 1843 and 1843. T'le praise of that famous ride deser\es to l>e sung in all languages. It was certainh' one of the most remarkable feats of history and many ha\'e declared it as unparalleled, and the results of it are still operativ'e and will continue through the progress of history. .Vs already mentioned, the first missionaries to the Spokanes first came to the Whitman mission, became a part of it, and continued connected with it in some respects. They were members of the church at \\'ai-ilat-pu while laboring at Tshimakain. Walker's Prairie, and in many ways received aid, counsel and encourageiuent.

Dr. \\hitman"s name is more widely known probalily to-day than any person ajnnected with the Pacific .Xorthwest. and he has been instrumental in a(l\ertising the country to a greater extent than any other person or agency.

The facts connected with the massacre of Dr. Whitman, his noljle wife and nine others on November 29, 1S47, ^''^ ^^'^" known. I^ir manv veju's the grave of the martyred mis- sionaries was neglected, but November 29 and 30, 1897, on the fiftieth anniversary of the massacre, a monument was dedicated near the grave at W'ai-il-at-pu. The ceremony was conducted under the auspices of the Oregon Pioneer Association.

The monument is made of Barre granite and cost over two thousand dollars. It is jjlaced on the highest knoll in the vicinity of the Whitman mission, over five hundred feet .above the valley, and about h\-e hundred feet distant from and two hundred h;gher than the original graxe. A mausoleum of brick, encased in X'ermi.mt marl)le. and surmounted by a slab of polished marble, eleven feet by fi\e and one-half feet, by four inches, on which is carved the names of the martyred band, is placed on the spnt where the remains .were until the monument was erected. This is enclosetl by a neat iron rail four feet high.

The mi'uument is placed (ju a foundation .of concrete, eight feet square and eight feet deep. The first base is six feet square by one ioot, eight inches ; the second, four feet, ten inches s(|uare, one foot, four inclies deep; the third, three feet, ten inches square by one foot, two inches, all rough faced and having a marginal draft. On the third base in raised letters is the name \\ hitman, Rishig from the third base is a die of polished marble three feet scjuare by three feet, three inches deep. This is surmounted by a cap three feet, ten inches square by one ftjot, six inches, which is also rockfaced and has marginal draft : then towering for eighteen feet above is the polished marlile shaft, a square two feet thick and slightly tapering towards the apex. The monument in position weighs eighteen tons, one of the bases, the lower, weighs seven tons.

But the college bearing his name, founded Ijy the Apostolic Gushing Eeils, D. D., is the iiUrepid missionary's most wortliy and permanent memorial. It is making wholesome progress under the presidency of Rev. S. B. L. Penrose, and is rapirlly asserting its place as the most prominent institution of learning in the great Inland Empire of the upper Columbia countrv.