Spokane County, Washington - Chapter 6: First Missionaries to the Spokanes, 1900

Revs. Gushing Eells and Elkanali \Yalker v.-ere appointed missionaries to Oregon by the American Board in 1838. They started on their journey in the spring of that year. In a letter to the writer about a year before his death, \vhich took place in 1893, the Rev. Dr. Eells wrote tlius : at W'ai-il-at-pu August 28, 1838. Rev. Elkanah \\'alker and myself were appointed to seek a new station among the Spolvane Indians. September loth we started antl Xoveiuber 15th encamped at Tshewe-lah and conducted services in the Indian language. On the 17th we rotle to Fort Colville on the Columbia ri\-er. a short chstance above Kettle falls, were kindly entertained until Thursday, when we returned to Tshe-\velah. We spent Lord's day at Pend-or-illa. On Tuesday, the 25th, we arrived at Tshim-akain. .\t that date there was not a spark of civilization at the place. We sent to Colville for food and for the loan of two axes. With the aid of the Indians, trees twelve inches in diameter were felled and cut into pieces fourteen feet long and carried to the place of building by the Indians. The four walls of each two Vmildings were jmt uj). designed for human dwellings. We returned to W'ai-il-at-pu by Lapwai, the station of Rev. H. H. Spalding. According to agreement some eight or more Spokane Indians appeared at Wai-i-lat-pu about the last of February, 1839. They came to assist their teachers to move to their country. On the 5th of March, 1839, riders were mounted, packs placed upon the backs of horses or mules, and on the 20th of the same month we arrived at the two log pens at Tshiniakain, or Walker's prairie." In answer to the question as to method of instruction and apparent results, he wrote: "Gospel truth was imparted whenever a congregation could he collected. They earlv learned to ])ray. Morning and c\'ening, sang and prayed in their lodges, the most important male jierson conducting the ser\-ice. If the men were all absent the women did not hesitate to be heard." The Revs. Walker and Eells labored faithfully for nearly ten _\ears among the Spokanes. They devoted themsehes entirely to the task of enlightening, civilizing and christianizing the natives. Their methods and temperaments were not such as to» tibtain speedy and apparent results, Init the subse(|uent history of the Spokanes bears testimony to the thoroughness of their ministry and toi the truth of that promise, "Your labors are; taking its name from Mr. Walker, who, onr account of his great height, si.K feet, six inches,., was called chief by the Indians - is situated aVc the northwest corner of Spokane county. Thesouth end of the i)rairie reaches within a few.-- miles of the north line. It is a delightful and' fertile little \-alley about four miles long and! varying from one to three miles in width. The.- Tshimakain creek flows through it and is theeastern line of the Little Spokane reservation.. We shall have more to record al)0ut the res> ervation and the Spokanes as they are to-day in another chapter. Much could be written concerning the work of the first missionaries among the Spokane Indians. The Missionary- Herald, the organ of the .\merican Board under which they labored, contains considerablecorrespondence from Messrs. Walker and Eells froiu 1838 to 1848. It does not seem to be within the province of this work to enter into details concerning their labors, yet it seems.

Mr. Walker was born at Xorth YarniDiUh, Maine. August 7, 1805. He was educated at Kimball Union Academy, Aleridan.New Hamppshire, and Bangor Theological Seminary in the same class as Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, the eminent missionary to Turkey. Mr. Walker and Mr. Eells were booked for Zululand, South Africa, the field of the present war. A tribal war in that cnuntry prevented their going and the cry fmni beyond the Rocky mountains was heard. 'Sir. Walker, then waiting to sail for Africa, and readv for any \'(iice (jf I'roN-idencc, his mind filled with thoughts of the heathen, his heart 1)eating with a desire to do them good, was willing to gi) to any other region at the bidding of the Master. As above stated, they settled among the Spokane Indians. The late Dr. G. H. Atkinson, Portland, Oregon, in a memorial discourse said, "Four thousand miles from their home on the .\tlantic they built their log-house .among the Flatheail or Spokane Indians, seldom, or never, perhaps, expecting to return or see the faces of friends again, or e\'en of man\- white people. Their mission was to unfold the teachings of Christ to those dark-minded men and women and children. First, it must be by the example of their own Christian home. Their humble dwelling at Tshimakain resounded morning and evening with prayer and praise. Christ was their hidden life. On the promises of Gotl they rested and were at peace." Mr. Walker printed with his own hand on the mission press at Lapwai in 1841 a small primer in the Spokane language. The Indians learned to respect him as a man of true courage - a which they always tested - and to esteem him as a friend and to trust him as an honest man. His example was a lesson. His abide in their nfinds and bind them to many truths whicfr he taught. One of them, a yt)ung man, lived with him a year. His progress was such, in new llunights. that an old chief, jealous of his influence with the tribe, persuaded him away antl In- a kind of plagiarism obtained his new views and gave them to the tribe as his own and thus retained his own influence and jdace. That young man has become a Christian and a chief, and the war fever that was rising high this summer* he did much to allay, and keep his tribe true to the whites, I's Re\'. Mr. Cowley testifies, who was among them at the time." Air. Walker and associate left Tshimakain under military escort soon after the Whitman massacre, although the Spokane Indians earnestly desired that the\' sh<juld remain. During the Cayuse war the military authorities commanded all whites to leave eastern Washington. Mr. Walker went to the Willamette \alley and bought a claim on which Forest (irove has partly grown. There the necessities of a large family made early and late toil imperative. alth(nigh he continued to ])reach the gospel as opi)ortunity offereil itself. "The old fire kindled and glowed on occasions in his heart," says Dr. Atkinson, and he longed to give himself wholly to the work and to win souls to Christ. He was one of the founders of Pacific University and for years a trustee. He was valued as a wise counsellor in its affairs and a liberal contributor toward its support considering his circumstances. He died at Forest Grove, Xovember 21, 1877. at the age of seventy-three. His wife, a woman of like courage and spirit with himself, died at Forest Grove a few \ears ago. Their son, a missionary in China, was the first white boy child born in eastern Washington.

The associates of Rev. E. Walker and wife, a.; missionaries among the Spokane Indians, were Rev. Gushing Eells and wife. Not only during over nine years of missionary work at

Isiiimakain, Walker's prairie, has liis name l)een identified with tliis county, l)ut for years afterward, as a self-supporting home missionary. He is favorably known l)y all the pioneers from Walla Walla to Colville and familiarly known as "Father Eells." His life and labors have been recorded in a book by his son. Rev. Myron Eells, D. D., and published by the C. S. S. and P. Society, Boston, and is a work Viorthy of careful study. Dr. Eells was born at Blandford, Massachusetts, February 16, 1810. His father's name was Joseph and his mother's Elizabeth (Warner), who were godly people. His mother died when he was twelve 3-ears of age, and he often referred to his oldest sister as one who did much for him while pursuing his courses of study. At fifteen he was converted and soon united with the Congregational church at Bland fortl, under the ministry of the late Rev. Dorus Clarke, D. D. ( Dr. Eells traveled from New York to Bos'.on in the winter of 1885 - while in the east soliciting funds for Whitman College - to attend the funeral of his old pastor.) He graduated at Williams College in 1836, working his way through by hard labor and self-denial. He was accustomed to walk home, a distance of forty miles. I have heard him say that he deemed it providential that he resolved while in college to drink nothing but cold water, for it fitted him more easily to endure some of the ])rivations of his subsequent life, for he enjoyed many meals beside the silvery streams or cooling springs. After completing his theological course at the Theological Institute, now the Hartford Theological Seminary, he was ordained at Blandford October 25, 1837, as a missionary to the heathen. On the 5th of i\larch, 1838, he and INIiss Myra Fairbank, of Holden, Massachusetts, were united in the bonds of matrimony and a few days later they started on their long wedding tour to far-away Oregon. The writer once asked him, "What led you to bec(.)me a missionary?" His answer was characteristic, "Tlie Word and the Spirit of God." As before stated, he contemi)lated going to South Africa, but Providence led him to Oregon. Father Eells was universally regarded by those who knew him as one of the most sincere, devoted, self-denying and apostolic missionaries that ever lived. His whole life was on the side of righteousness, and a constant testimony and unanswerable argument in favor of the efficacy of prayer and the i)ower of the religion of Jesus Christ. AH classes of men with whom he came in contact, Jews, Roman Catholics and infidels, as well as Protestants, acknowledged his incorruptible integrity and unfeigned loyalty to the principles which he confessed. He left this country at the same time as Mr. Walker in obedience to military command. For eleven years he resided in and around Forest Grove, Oregon, aiding in laying the foundations of Tualatin Academy and Pacific University and doing much preaching and leaching. As soon as this country, eastern Oregon and Washington, was declared open he started for the Whitman mission. As a representative of the American Board he took possession of the Whitman mission claim, and paid for it to the said Board, and dedicated half of it for a Christian school in memory of the martyred missionary. That school has become Whitman College, endowed and equipped for great service and known all over the country. As soon as this upper country began to be settled he entered upon his periodical missionary tours from Walla Walla to Colville. He was identified with the organization of several Congregati<:inal churches in this country, first Spokane, Cheney, Medical Lake and aided in the erection of their first buildings and gave each a bell. He did much home missionary work in the country, preaching at Marshall, Deep Creek. Half Moon, Pleasant Prairie and other places. Dr. Eells was an active missionary for fifty-two \-ears. He was a remarkable man in manv respects and a wonderful illustration of the possibilities of life under adverse circumstances, with industrv. economy and noble pur- poses. He was always careful and systematic in all his doings, utilizing every moment of time, retiring and rising early, a man of mighty faith and strong in prayer. .-Vmid discouragements and disappointments, he was accustomed to wrestle with God in prayer. "Taking hold of God." was a favorite expression of his. How much he Inxed to preach the gospel, and he would ha\'e greatly enjoyed the settled pastorate. He prepared his discourses with care and his expressions were concise and comprehensive. Under different circumstances he would have made an extraordinary sermoniser. He had an intense zeal for the faith once delivered to the saints. He abhored sham and sensationalism and especially sectarian rivalry. What a grand life ! It can truly be said of him "he did what he could." \\'ordly excitement, the rush after money so prevalent in this country had no charm to him. His supreme desire was to walk the earth doing good. He has made for himself an imperishable monument, and while the names of selfish worldlings who iiave lived tohoard money will soon perisli and be forgotten,, his name will be lovingly remembered by successive generations. "Blessed are they that die in the Lord, for their works do follow them." Prof. \\'. D. Lyman, of \\'hitman College, who knew him from childhood, said of him, "If I were to select one thing more conspicuous than another in the character of Gushing Eells, it would be the abiding consciousness of his responsibility to God and man, and his clear perception of the bearing which his deeds would have on the conditions of others." After a sickness of four days with pneumonia, the Rev. Gushing Eells departed this life at the home of his son, Edwin, Indian agent at Tacoma, Washington, on Thursday morning February 1 6, 1893. His remains were buried in the Tacoma cemetery.