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The story of the Kalispel Indians and the St. Ignatius Mission reveals the Native American struggle for identity, recognition, and justice in the advent of increasing American and European presence on their land. The Saint (St.) Ignatius Mission, 1844 to 1854, was located on the Clark Fork River, now known as the Pend Oreille River, in Washington State. The Catholic missionaries' attempts to Christianize the Indians and create a mission among the Kalispels in 1844 forever changed their way of life. The results of these encounters were mixed for the Kalispel, the missionaries, and the American government and must have been perplexing to the Kalispels. For the Kalispels, perhaps the most wrenching experience was the movement in 1854 of St. Ignatius Mission from its original site on their homeland in the northeastern part of present-day Washington State to the northwestern part of present-day Montana. It is argued in this paper that the Kalispels did not want to give up their home along the Pend Oreille River and move to Montana.

The reasons for moving the St. Ignatius Mission 190 miles east to Montana in 1854 are not clear. St. Ignatius Mission in Montana has been designated a National Historic Site. Visitors at this site today read about the beginning of the Montana Mission, "Experience proved the site [along the Pend Oreille River] to be unfavorable. Finally, at the request of the Indians themselves, the Mission was transferred to its present location in 1854 (St. Ignatius pamphlet; Obersinner and Gritzmacher 5)." No reason for the move can be ascertained at the Washington State Mission site. There is nothing to mark this historical location and the actual site of the Mission is not certain. Tourist literature, newspaper and magazine accounts, historians, missionary letters and diaries, and American government reports provide differing and some common evidence about why the mission moved and who instigated it.

Newspaper and magazine accounts of the St. Ignatius Missions in both Washington and Montana centennial events state the Washington State site was unfavorable, "because it was not sufficiently centrally located to reach the different tribes with any degree of convenience." This article, and others, repeat "… at the request of the Indians themselves, the mission was transferred … (Carriker and Carriker Roll 1, 260; Roll 7, 468; Roll 22, 217 -228)."

However, tourist and news accounts are sometimes not accurate, so historians’ records need to be examined. Pend Oreille County pioneers' Ruby Lusher Dingee and Charles Barker wrote that in 1854, "high water took away the buildings (Howe 10)," and "These buildings, with the exception of the church, were swept away in the high waters of 1854 when the Pend Oreille went on a rampage (Howe 38)." In addition, due to the direct tie to the St. Ignatius missionaries' religion, Catholic Priest historians, Taelman, Palladino, Schoenberg, Davis, Garraghan, Laney, Hilaire, Weibel, and Bischoff, have written of the move. Taelman wrote,

"Experience proved the site to be unfavorable, owing to frequent inundations in the seasons of high water. Moreover it was not sufficiently central, to reach conveniently the different tribes. At the request of the Indians themselves, the Mission was moved to its present location. Most of these lower Pend d'Oreilles came along with the missionaries, a small remainder decided to stay on the old place … (Carriker and Carriker, Roll 4, 267)."

Palladino summarized the story in 1894,

"… but the site then chosen proved unfavorable. It was subject to inundation at the melting of heavy snow-falls in the mountains, and further, the missionaries having now acquired a better knowledge of the country, a more central position with reference to other tribes was deemed preferable, as greater good could be accomplished. Consequently, at the request of the Indians themselves, the Mission was removed … (Palladino 68)."

Theodore J. St. Hilaire gave this version, "The reason for the move was that though mission buildings had been relocated on ground above the spring high-water level, the fields underwent an annual inundation which nullified the agricultural labors of Brother McGean (Carriker and Carriker Roll 22, 209)."

Three books written exclusively about the Kalispel nation can be found: Robert Carriker's The Kalispel People in 1973; O. J. Cotes edited The Kalispels: People of the Pend Oreille in 1980; and John Fahey's 1986 The Kalispel Indians. In addition, ethnologists John Ewers and Stuart Chalfant have written on the question of the move.

Cotes writes, "The lands did not produce well, spring floods each year hampered the planting, starvation threatened and the Kalispels grew restless. Kalispel Chief Alexander led the missionaries to the more suitable and fertile … (Cotes 22)." Carriker summarizes, "Recurring floods, poor quality of soil near the village on the bay, and the harsh winters were all factors in the decision by Father Hoecken to move the reduction. Sometime during the spring, Victor joined with Chief Alexander of the Upper Kalispel and together they searched for a new location. None was found in Kalispel country, most probably because Hoecken required the new site to be more central to more tribes than just the Lower and Upper Kalispel (Carriker 37)." Fahey explains that missionary letters quote the Kalispels as clamoring to move to a place where they can live and not starve, and this prompted the missionaries to seek and find a new location (Fahey 12).

The dominant view held by most historians is that the Kalispels requested and initiated the tribe's relocation from Washington to Montana and pointed out the new place and led the missionaries there. On the surface, this reasoning seems to be plausible, because many Kalispels were baptized and most of the Kalispels did follow the missionaries to Montana. However, these summary views, perpetuated in tourist literature and promulgated by most historians, do not present the complete story about the relocation of St. Ignatius Mission.

The widely accepted reasons the Catholic Mission moved to Montana in 1854 originate in the diaries and letters of the missionaries who recorded that the Indians themselves requested and initiated the move, and even selected the new Mission site. Accounts left by the St. Ignatius missionaries record that the Kalispels "initiated" the move because they were starving to death at the Mission on the Pend Oreille River (Schoenberg's Paths 59). The missionaries also wrote that Chief Alexander pointed out and led them to the new site for the Mission (De Smet 299). The Kalispel Indians have no contemporaneous written record of the events. The primary source material of the Jesuit Priests directly involved in St. Ignatius, namely Pierre Jean De Smet, Joseph Joset, and Adrian Hoecken, provide invaluable information and will be examined closely to discover what was said and who prompted the mission's move.

So, why did St. Ignatius Mission among the Kalispels move: floods, poor soil, starvation, harsh winters, location that is more central, a combination of these factors? Moreover, who prompted and decided to move, the Kalispel, the missionaries, the American government? This information leads to further study and understand why the mission was moved.

The Kalispels did not request and initiate the lifestyle imposed on them by the missionaries that subsequently led to near starvation. Looking at the forces and actions surrounding this issue will help better understand why the Kalispel mission was relocated. By examining the situation of the Kalispel and their land prior to 1844, by examining pertinent primary source material during and immediately after the time at St. Ignatius on the Pend Oreille River, it will be shown that the Kalispels pointed out a new site that fit the plans of the Catholic missionaries and the American government. Remembering the story of St. Ignatius Mission among the Kalispels is worthwhile to try to set the record straight about this history, to prompt further investigation and discussion, and perhaps most importantly to consider those historical events between 1844 and 1854. It is important to know the past in order to understand the present and to create a better future.

Kalispel First Encounters With Americans & Europeans

Lewis and Clark, on their expedition, looked for a transcontinental water passage to the Orient for international trade via the Missouri River system, which was known to be the last possible hope for that kind of a route. They did not visit the Kalispel area, but a reference to the tribe is made in their 1806 journals, "Coos-pel-lars Nation reside on a river which falls into the Columbia to the N. of Clarks river (Fuller, Chalfant, Phillips, Malouf 176)."

The quest for animal furs was the reason Europeans explored and first settled Washington State. The British Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company were the dominant fur traders in North America, and Indians were depended upon for obtaining furs. In general, the Hudson's Bay Company's treatment of native peoples was positive. They left the Indians alone and did not impose their European way of life on them (Murray 24). Native Americans were introduced to new ways of life by the newcomers that had attractive elements. One of the new matters was religion, "The first notion of religion among the Skoyelpi [Kettle Falls, Colville] and neighboring tribes, came undoubtedly through the HB [Hudson's Bay] Company people … (Joset roll 32, 746)."

David Thompson employed by the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company in the overland fur trade in what is now Canada and the Pacific Northwest of America, spent time trading, establishing new posts, surveying, and checking by astronomical observation over 3,500 miles of wilderness in the interior west (Flandrau 13). He was one of the first to take serious interest in the religion, philosophy, and culture of the native peoples. The fur trade was extending westward from Hudson's Bay in search of better fur areas and faster water routes to market. At the beginning of the 1800's, Thompson had a desire to see and map the country beyond the present-day Rocky Mountains.

This quest brought him to the present-day Pend Oreille River. The mighty Pend Oreille River is the second largest tributary to the Columbia River, and the history of the American West follows this river from its source in the Rocky Mountains through the Flathead Valley to Lake Pend Oreille and through the Calispel Valley. It then flows north to its confluence with the Columbia River near Trail, British Columbia, Canada. Thompson first crossed the northern part of the Rocky Mountains in 1807 as he was developing fur trading posts (Nisbet 267) and was the first white to see the source of the Columbia River. From the Kootenai Indians, David Thompson knew of a river that emptied into salt water. He also learned of the Columbia River by reading Captain George Vancouver's journals at Grand Portage on Lake Superior.

Thompson is known as the first white man to have visited what is present-day Pend Oreille County in northeast Washington State and to have traveled down the Pend Oreille River in Idaho and Washington (1932 Elliot 18). He made three journeys down the Pend Oreille River, called Saleesh by Thompson, in 1809, 1810, and 1811, exploring a water route to the Pacific Ocean from the east (1918 Elliot 15). Traveling by way of the Kootenai River, Montana, Thompson's group made it to Kullyspell Lake, currently named Pend Oreille Lake in Idaho, on September 9, 1809, and began building a trading post called Kullyspell House. Kullyspell is the name Thompson said the Indians called themselves.

Lack of an abundant food source is one of the possible reasons given for St. Ignatius' move and Thompson's journal gives us information about the Kullyspel food supply. Numerous waterfowl on the Saleesh or Pend Oreille River were killed for food. Cakes of moss, root bread, and boiled roots were traded with the Kullyspels, and there were fish weirs at Calispel Lake, called DeBuoy by Thompson (1932 Elliot 176).

In addition to information about food supplies, while at Kullyspel House on June 8, 1811, David Thompson writes about his impression of the Indian's religion, "The general Idea of all Indians is that war is a Sacrifice of Blood to the Great Spirit this is the first Motive, tho in the prosecution of this Deed their own Blood is often spilt & this brings in the Idea of Revenge added to the first, which still bears the reigning Idea. Every warriour puts white Earth on his Head as a kind of Mourning for those who are to fall & Penance for himself, that the Great Spirit may give him Success … (1932 Elliot 174)."

The Kalispel territory was claimed by both England and America until 1846, when the Oregon Treaty established American ownership south of the 49th parallel. Before then, both America and Britain held fur trading posts in the Kalispel locality: Fort Spokane was founded in 1812 by the American Fur Company, the Astorians; and Fort Colville was established in 1825 as the major trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company in the Upper Columbia River territory. Next, the Kalispel way of life at this time of European occupancy will be discussed in depth.

The Kalispels

The traditional homeland of the Kalispel centered on the ntxwe, a Kalispel word for "The River" (Cotes 3). The territory is an area along the Pend Oreille and Clark Fork Rivers. Both flow out of Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho, from northeastern Washington to northwestern Montana. The Kalispel are considered to be a part of Salish speaking people that include other Indians like the Chewelah, Flathead, Kootenai, Spokane, and Pend Oreille. Early fur traders, explorers, missionaries found the Kalispel people with plenty to eat and willing to provide food to the white visitors (1987 Thoms 5). The word Kalispel is said to mean "camas root people" and is the Indian name for the tribe which French fur trappers called "Pend d'Oreille" because of their custom of wearing shell ear ornaments (Phillips 20). A distinction has been made by most anthropologist authorities, and substantiated by historical accounts, that the Kalispel were in two divisions, the Pend Oreille or the Upper Pend Oreille Indians living around Lake Pend Oreille in the upper part of the Pend Oreille River, and the Kalispel proper or the Lower Pend Oreille residing down river near the camas fields (Fuller, Chalfant, Phillips, Malouf 23, 176, 353 -367).

The Kalispels' Food

To provide background on one reason given for St. Ignatius' move, specifically that the Kalispels were starving and needed to move to a location where they could survive, the major Kalispel subsistence theory will be presented.

The Kalispels' way of life for their food supply was dictated by the seasons and nature's cycles. There were no salmon on the Pend Oreille River because the salmon could not make it through Z Canyon on the Pend Oreille River, so the Kalispels traveled to the Columbia River via the Kalispel Trail to obtain salmon. The Kalispels would travel to hunt buffalo in the plains of Montana with their neighboring tribes, the Flathead and Pend Oreille (Joset roll 32, 772). The Pend Oreille valley area had an abundance of deer, fish, geese, ducks, wild berries, and roots.

Root gathering was of chief importance to the Kalispel nourishment. Camas root, the main root used for food, was found in abundance along the Pend Oreille River valley's vast prairies around Calispel Lake, Usk and Cusick and along the east side of the river covering thousands of acres. These camas fields were the largest in the area and the Spokane, Colville, Kettle Falls, and Chewelah Indians would all come to this area to gather camas during the summer. Because of these rich camas prairies, the major Kalispel villages were found in this area (Fuller, Chalfant, Phillips, Malouf 220).

Recent important archeological evidence, the finding of camas processing ovens and sites, shows that the Pend Oreille or Kalispel Valley area has been continuously occupied for well over 3,500 years. This information provides support for the theory that camas and other root foods may have been as important, perhaps more important, than salmon in leading to a more settled life because there were no salmon on the Pend Oreille River (1990 Thoms 52). These facts indicate that the Kalispels were surviving by hunting, fishing, and gathering food before European encroachment and the founding of St. Ignatius in 1844.

This is not to say it was an easy life in this area, "In spite of its obvious advantage of abundant food and water, the region could not be considered an ideal place for the Indians to live. Severe winters bring very heavy snowfalls and the temperature often falls to twenty or thirty degrees below zero Fahrenheit. The lakes and rivers freeze over, fishing becomes difficult, and it is often impossible to travel after game (Fuller, Chalfant, Phillips, Malouf 173)." Dr. Suckley reported a Catholic missionary told him in 1853, "They [the missionaries] came upon these Indians about nine years ago, and found them to be a poor, miserable, half-starved race, with an insufficiency of food and nearly naked, living upon fish, camas and other roots, and, at the last extremity, upon pine-tree moss (Durham 119)."

From the white newcomer's point of view, the Kalispel Indians lead a barbaric, uncivilized, hunting and gathering existence. However, prior to this contact, the Kalispels had occupied this area for a few thousand years, indicating that they had not starved and were not starving. One question for study will be whether the Kalispels would adapt to the "civilized" way to obtain food, that is, by farming?

The Kalispels' Religion

The Kalispel religion will be discussed to better understand the interaction with the missionaries. For the Salish, religion was not a separate compartment or specialty of life (Chance 55). The focus was on the power of nature, the forces and spirits that controlled every living and non-living thing. The Indians believed that some Great Spirit created their environment. The objective was to harness and develop good relationships with the spirits to have enough food to eat and to have good luck. The Indian belief was that evil people are punished in this life by getting sick, by losing things, and by having bad luck.

Everyone quested after a guardian spirit personified by some animal, bird, fish, plant, or place. The belief is that because nature is more powerful than men are, men need help or medicine. The guardian spirits were found through solitude and fasting on vigils to such places as the sweat lodges by the river, to the wilderness, to mountain tops, or even to graveyards. Words, songs, chant, music (drum and rattle), ritual ceremonies, and objects had supernatural power to heal and protect.

In the Kalispel Indian religion, a great variety of spirits, both good and bad, were believed. The medicine man was important as a healer, prophet, and protector. Before a hunting trip, it was expected that the shaman would provide powerful hunting spirits and powers to ensure success.

In 1853, Dr. George Suckley provided an interesting report of the Kalispel beliefs as he learned from Father Adrian Hoecken,

"Unlike the Indians east of the [Rocky] mountains, they had no idea of a future state or a Great Spirit; neither had they any idea of a soul. They considered themselves to be animals, nearly allied to the beaver, but greater than the beaver -- why? Because they said, 'the beaver builds houses like us, and he is very cunning too; but we can catch the beaver, and he can not catch us -- therefore we are greater than he.' They thought when they died that was the last of them. While thus ignorant, it was not uncommon for them to bury the very old and very young alive, because, they said, 'these cannot take care of themselves, and we can not take care of them, and they had better die.' Of the soul they had no conception. In the beginning the priests were obliged to depend upon the imperfect translations of half-breed interpreters. The word 'soul' was singularly translated to the Indians, by one of these telling them that they had a gut that never rotted, and that this was their living principle or soul. …

Before the advent of the missionaries, the inhabitants, although totally destitute of religious ideas, still believed that evil and bad luck emanated from a fabulous old woman or sorceress. They were great believers in charms, or medicine. Every man had his peculiar medicine or charm, which was his deity, so to speak; and of it they expected good or ill. With some it would be the mouse; with others, the deer, buffalo, elk, salmon, bear, etc.; and whichever it was, the savage would carry a portion of it constantly by him. The tail of a mouse, or the fur, hoof, claw, feather, fin or scale of whatever it might be, became the amulet. When a young man grew up he was not yet considered a man until he had discovered his medicine. His father would send him to the top of a high mountain in the neighborhood of the present mission. Here he was obliged to remain without food until he had dreamed of an animal; the first one so dreamed about becoming his medicine for life. Of course anxiety, fatigue, cold and fasting would render his sleep troubled and replete with dreams. In a short time he would have dreamed of what he wanted, and return to his home a man (Durham 119 - 120)."

One legend tells of an Indian, Shining Shirt, named possibly because he wore a Conquistador metallic breastplate, who was a hero to both the Flathead Salish and the Kalispel. Shining shirt predicted that men with fair skins and long black robes would one day come to teach the truth, to give a new moral law, and to stop the wars with the Blackfeet. After the coming of the Black Robes, other fair skins would arrive and overrun the country and make slaves of his people, but they should not be resisted (Bergman and McAlear 8-9; Peterson 17). A similar tradition is found with the Spokane and Coeur d'Alene, Kalispel neighbors, Indian prophet Yureerachen or Circling Raven (Ruby and Brown 31-32). Thus, the Kalispels were told that a new trail to heaven was coming from white-skinned people that would also bring the Indian people tears of joy and tears of sorrow.

It can be interpreted that the Kalispel religion had much in common with the Catholic religion. The two different religious cultures had common ground. Both believed in a mysterious power beyond themselves that made all life possible, that humans, priests and medicine men, could act as intermediaries between the spirit world and this world, that religious experience could be searched for in the wilderness and mountains by fasting and aloneness, that words, songs, and objects had powers to heal and protect. Also, they believed in guardian spirits and in rituals like the sacraments that were like medicine and provided a source of healing and life. Because of the shared religious aspects, when the missionaries came in 1844, the backdrop for the successful introduction of Catholic beliefs to the Kalispels was promising.

"Frequently in human history, crises produced by natural or social disasters have been translated into crises of faith. Typically, this occurs because the disaster places demands upon the prevailing religion that it appears unable to meet. This inability can occur at two levels. First, the religion may fail to provide a satisfactory explanation of why the disaster occurred. Second, the religion may seem to be unavailing against the disaster, which becomes truly critical when all the nonreligious means also prove inadequate -- when the supernatural remains the only plausible source of help. In response to these 'failures' of their traditional faiths, societies have evolved or adopted new faiths. The classic instance is the series of messianic movements that periodically swept through the Indians of North America in response to their failures to withstand encroachments by European settlers (Stark 77 - 78)."

The Coming of Catholic Missions In the American Northern Rocky Mountains

It is important to understand what motivated the Christian missionaries. They were among the first European settlers to come to the Oregon Territory. The non-missionary emigrants wanted to live on land of their choosing with no interference from the natives and felt the savages needed to be tamed and trained to become civilized like whites or be exterminated. The Hudson's Bay Company and the United States government thought missionaries tended to pacify the Indians, bring peace and order in their wake, and be assets in time of trouble (Schoenberg's History 26).

Coinciding with the Oregon migration fervor was an acceleration of the Protestant conscience because of revivalism in the mid-1820s. In the 1830s, the political climate in Europe spurred an increasing anti-clericalism, forcing Catholics to seek relief through missionary work in undeveloped lands. American urban areas were not significantly more hospitable to Roman Catholic presence than certain regions of Europe, so a major portion of the Jesuits who came to America in these years were directed to mission outposts on the frontier (Carriker and Carriker Roll 1, 2).

Not only did the Jesuits seek the Indian. In 1831 a Flathead Indian delegation traveled to St. Louis seeking the book, Bible, and the black robes, Catholic Jesuits, for their people. This event provided specific stimulus for missionary activity in the Pacific Northwest (Schwantes 79). Three additional Indian delegations came in 1835, 1837, and 1839, to St. Louis seeking the Black Robe Jesuit Catholic Priests, although the 1837 delegation was killed enroute. The Indians came to St. Louis first to see William Clark who was the co-leader with Meriwether Lewis of the famous 1803-1806 Corps of Discovery exploration to the Pacific Ocean (DeVoto xlviii; Davis De Smet 29) and at this time Governor of the Louisiana Territory and United States Superintendent of Indian Affairs. Clark sent the Indian delegations to the Catholics as part of the United State government's "endeavor to civilize & instruct them (DeVoto 483)."

The request by the Indians may possibly be explained by considering the prophetic legends of Shining Shirt and Circling Raven. The Indians looked to fulfill this vision. "The explanations also derive from the influence of other Indians, such as Spokan Garry ... (Peterson 83)." Spokane Garry was sent by the Hudson's Bay Company to a mission school at Red River Colony near present-day Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Garry returned to the Spokanes in 1831 with a Bible and knowledge of Christianity and began teaching the other Indians (Ruby and Brown 59). The words of Garry sounded similar to the teachings of the Indian medicine men and prophets. In addition, as already mentioned, the Indians gained knowledge of Christianity through the fur traders in the area.

It is possible the Indians thought they could become powerful, like the settlers and missionaries, through the white man's books and religion. Most Indians did not write to communicate at this time and probably felt the white man's written, no talking or signing, communication supernatural. Early contact with settlers and missionaries who said religion was the basis of their life, might have made the Indian want to learn about this religion to capture a portion of the white's power and civilization. Indians saw that even the white man would bow before the Black Robes indicating massive power. Indians most likely wanted this power to defend themselves and to defeat their enemies. The Indians thought the Blackgown was a chief who spoke with the Great Spirit (Davis De Smet 138).

Protestants, Elkanah Walker and Cushing Eels, were first to the area and established Tshimakain mission among the Spokane Indians in 1838. The Protestants' missionary objectives for the Indians were many: law must replace what the whites conceived to be Indian anarchy, hard work must replace the hand-to-mouth existence of the Indians, individual ownership of property must be substituted for communal ownership, Indians must change their external appearance to look like Englishmen, and Indians must be educated. Conversion was accomplished when the above five objectives were accomplished. An important point made is that conversion to the Protestants meant the Indians were to become civilized and Americans. The above objectives coincided with the policy of the American government and the Protestants and government worked in concert (Prucha 131 - 132).

The first Roman Catholic missionaries, west of the Rocky Mountains in Oregon country, were Francois Norbet Blanchet and Modeste Demers who arrived at the Hudson's Bay Fort Vancouver in 1838. Their primary objective was to convert the Indian peoples living in the Pacific Northwest area. The priests' strategy was to get Indian chiefs to be their teaching assistants. The missionaries' message to the natives was more persuasive coming from the chief. This also added to the chief's sense of importance. Additionally, the scarcity of Roman Catholic priests and the immensity of the Oregon Territory and British Columbia area necessitated the use of assistants.

The Catholics were more accepting of the Indian nature than the Protestants. Father Point, one of the first missionaries at the first Jesuit mission in the northern Rocky Mountains, St. Mary's Mission in Montana, captured this essence and said that, "it is better to graft then to fell." The priests did not teach complicated theology or dogma and presented Christianity as a chronicle of historic events. Conversion meant the Indians were to become civilized and give up their ways, such as buffalo hunting, gambling, multiple wives, and medicine bags. The Catholics also felt that civilization and Christianity must go together (Prucha 133).

The Catholics were planning a response to the Indian delegations. Pierre Jean De Smet born in Belgium, came to America to be a missionary and was ordained a Catholic Jesuit Priest at St. Louis. De Smet desired to establish a mission among the Indians and was selected to undertake an expedition with the purpose stated in his own words:

"The bishop of St. Louis and my provincial charged me to undertake a journey to the Rocky Mountains to sound out the dispositions of the Indians and to see what success we could promise ourselves from the establishment of a mission in their midst (Davis De Smet 33)."

De Smet wanted to visit a large part of the Oregon Country and to investigate suitable locations for opening up missions (Davis De Smet 125). De Smet wrote about his intentions in beginning a mission at this time,

"The Apostles of Protestantism are beginning to crowd in and pick out the best places, and soon the avarice and cupidity of civilized man will make the same inroads here as in the east, and the abominable influences of the vices of the frontier will interpose the same barrier to the introduction of the gospel … (Davis De Smet 125)."

In 1840 De Smet traveled up the Missouri River system with a fur brigade and approached the Colorado River where he met Indians from the Flatheads and Pend d'Oreilles (Davis De Smet 40). He spent time with the Flatheads and Pend d'Oreilles in present-day Montana. They were eager to learn and follow De Smet's teachings. De Smet baptized some and taught them the sign of the cross, the Our Father prayer, the Hail Mary, the Apostle's Creed, the acts of faith, hope and charity, contrition, and the Ten Commandments.

During the journey of 1840, De Smet became highly enthusiastic about prospects for a mission among the Flathead and Pend Oreille Indians. The Indian response to the Black Robe and his message was positive, said De Smet, and he was highly complimentary of the Indians' demeanor. On his scouting trip, in November 1840, De Smet wrote about a potential future Kalispel mission location,

"The Pend d'Oreille Traverse offers a fine location for a mission. There is a large and fertile prairie, wood will never fail, the river abounds in fish. At the bottom of the prairie is a little lake or marsh, about six miles in circumference, which is a rendezvous for all sorts of aquatic birds. A large number of Indian tribes would be close at hand; the Coeur d'Alenes, the Spokans, the Kettles, the Simpoils, the Kootenais, the Gens-du-lac, the Nez Perces and several others, are scarce more than two or three days travel away. Besides Fort Colville is within a long day's ride, which would make it very easy to procure victuals, tools and clothing (Chittenden and Richardson 356)."

Soon the Catholic missionaries in the Willamette River valley were to have co-workers among the tribes of the Rocky Mountains (Davis De Smet 142). Father Joset chronicling the advent of the first mission wrote, that in 1841,

"When they met again the Flatheads, they found among them several halfbreeds, who began to speak of the fine lands of the Pends D'oreilles, quite gained F. Point to their idea of establishing the mission there: the Flatheads hearing of it hung their heads: 'we are not worthy to have the missionaries on our lands: but we cannot go among the Pends D'oreilles.' F. Desmet hearing of it stopped the matter at once: 'For the Flatheads we are come,' he said, 'with the Flatheads we go.' Provisory chapel, houses, enclosure against the excursions [of the Blackfeet] were immediately put up, the Mission taking the name of S. Mary (Joset roll 32, 568 -591)."

In 1841, De Smet brought into existence the first Catholic mission, St. Mary's, in the Rockies with the Flathead Indians in the valley of the Bitterroot River in present-day Montana ten years after the Indians first recorded quest for the black robes. De Smet envisioned St. Mary's as the center of a system of ten or more reductions for the Oregon country (Carriker's De Smet 50). De Smet believed the Oregon Country missions should resemble the successful South American system called Reductions. Missions would be located sufficiently distant from white man, convenient to near-by tribes, and self supporting (Carriker and Carriker 5).

De Smet and fellow Jesuits, Father Nicholas Point, Father Gregory Mengarini, Brothers Charles Huet, Joseph Specht, and William Claessens created St. Mary's (Joset Roll 32, 568 - 591). The Flathead Indians felt the Black Robes would provide them protection from, and power to fight, the Blackfeet Indians. The Indians saw Christianity through their own eyes. They wanted the Christian God to strengthen their lives as Indians, not to be like whites. At first, Christianity was added to old beliefs.

On his way to get supplies for St. Mary's Mission at Fort Colville in late October of 1841, De Smet again traveled through Kalispel territory along the Pend Oreille River. While with the Kalispels, a party sent by Hudson's Bay Company Chief Factor John McLoughlin delivered De Smet an invitation to visit Fort Vancouver as soon as practical. McLoughlin wanted to welcome the new missionaries to the area because he believed Christianity needed to play a necessary role in the development of the Oregon country by civilizing the Indians. Dr. McLoughlin would offer the Jesuit missions supplies to accomplish this objective (Carriker's De Smet 51 -52).

The good relations the Hudson's Bay Company enjoyed with the Catholics and Indians was seen in a negative light from the American settlers’ view. The Americans accused the Hudson's Bay Company of plotting with the Indians, and foreign-born Catholics to undermine the United States of America settlement progress in instances such as the Whitman massacre, the Chehalis treaty council failure, and the 1850's Indian Wars (Murray 30).

Father Point along with Brother Charles Huet and interpreter Louis Brown established the second Jesuit mission in the Rocky Mountain district, the St. Joseph Mission which was later relocated and renamed Sacred Heart, in the fall of 1842 among the Coeur d'Alenes (Joset Roll 32, 568 - 591). In 1843, from St. Louis, De Smet recruited Fathers Peter DeVos, Joseph Joset, and Adrian Hoecken, Jesuit Brothers John Baptiste McGean, Daniel Lyons and directly from Europe came Fathers Michael Accolti, John Nobili, Anthony Ravalli, Aloysius Vercruysse, and Brother Francis Huybrechts to bolster the Jesuit work in the Rocky Mountain Missions.

The Founding of A Mission Among The Kalispels, Pend Oreille River, 1844

With these reinforcements the third mission in the reduction system, planned by Father De Smet, was soon to be established. Father Adrian Hoecken said in a letter to De Smet, "Living among the Coeurs d'Alene, I was send[t] for in June by the Calispel on a sick call. I went there and was cordially received by all, … . I was ordered in the beginning of September 1844 to begin a permanent station among the Calispels … (Davis Box 14, Hoecken to De Smet, undated)." Father Joset recollected, "R. F. Hoecken having charge of the St. Joseph Mission at the Coeur D'alenes in 1844 visited several times the Calispels and baptized a number of them in the fall of the same year. R. F. Devos then vice Superior general was called to the Willamet by R. F. Desmet: before starting he sent an order to F. Hoecken to come and meet him at the Calispel, where he started the St. Michaels Mission in the plain yet called by that name: … (Joset Roll 32, 677)."

Hoecken, De Smet, and Soderini spent the winter of 1844 at St. Michaels (Joset Roll 32, 568 -591). De Smet documented the heartening beginning, "I shall always remember with pleasure the winter of 1844 - 45, which I had the happiness of spending among these good Indians. … The Christmas of 1844 was, therefore, a great and glorious day in the Rocky Mountains (De Smet 466, 471)." Father Hoecken would spend the next ten years with the Kalispels at St. Ignatius along the Pend Oreille River. Joset's writings add the following insights on the founding and the Kalispels:

"On the banks of Clarks Fork [Pend Oreille River], 60 miles about below Sandy Point is a large plain called by the Indians Calispel from which the people living in the neighborhood derive their name, which now consists all the tribe: but when to design [?] themselves by sign, they imitate the motion of pooling; hence the French traders and halfbreeds call them gem 'a canot Canoe people. They belonged to the clan of small game (Dear, Bear &) hunters like their neighbors the Coeur D'alene; but they widely differed in character: While the turbulent Coeur D'alenes would at once burst out in a fit of anger, and immediately repent, the quiet Calispel would hide their resentment for weeks, months, and years: they would always keep in good terms with the whites, hence the many half breeds among them while the Coeur D'alene distrusted them, kept aloof: & not a single half breed was found among them.

The Calispels spoke the same language as the Pend D'oreilles and the Flatheads with whom they were in close relationship and friendship: the Mission of St. Mary having been established among the Flatheads, on bitter root River Montana, several had the opportunity to be acquainted with our holy religion and many of the children had been baptized.

Their Chief Kwilkamilskaimi was a very clever man of great authority not only with his own people, but with the allied tribes: when the Calispels, Pend D'oreilles, Flatheads, Nez perces joined for buffalo hunting, he was chosen as the leader. … (Joset Roll 32, 677)."

"It is related of him that when the presbyterian preachers made their appearance in the country, he went to hear them at the Spokanes, Nez perces and Cayuses; but finding them to disagree in their teaching, he shook his head: on the contrary finding the catholic missioners to be of one mouth, … (Joset Roll 32, 676)."

The Indians saw the fundamental antagonism between the Protestant and Catholic missionaries. Both groups said the other group was evil and would burn in hell. The fight between the Protestants and Catholics bewildered the Indians.

Prior to creating the mission with the Kalispels, "These Indians had just lost their excellent Chief called Kwilkwilskaimi (Joset Roll 32, 773)." Hoecken says Etsowish simmegai itskin (standing grizzly) died as a result of a Blackfeet ball (Davis Box 14, Hoecken to De Smet, undated). Joset writes that Kwilkamilskaimi had a difficult time selecting only one wife and was not baptized until his death by a nephew (Joset Roll 32, 822 - 823). His son succeeded him and also was called a great chief by the Catholics:

"After the death of Kulkulskaimi the authority had passed into the hands of elzvishsenagetien (the standing grizzly bear). He may have been designated by his predecessor, but certainly recognized as chief by the trader of the HBC. By the gift of a full new dress: which was their way of creating chiefs in different tribes. At his baptism he was called Loyola, by most which name we will call him.

He was by far the best chief I have ever known; qualities both of mind and heart were much above common. from the moment of the establishment of the Mission he renounced buffalo hunting, which reduced him to comparative poverty: he never missed a religious instruction when he possibly could assist, and had them repeated in his house by the people who met there every evening: when it happened that some doubt remained about the meaning of the father's words, he would come next day for an explanation: no wonder that he was the best instructed, and this added much to his authority. He was very prudent and in question of public interest he would always seek the opinion of the best men of the tribe, and in difficult matters consult the missioner: Among Indians the chief is the judge also: in question of restitution, if doubtful he would likewise consult the father, though his good sense would scarcely ever mistake the true solution … (Joset Roll 32, 687). … He was as good as his word. With such a chief the work of a missioner is comparatively easy (Joset Roll 32, 687)."

The first Kalispel Mission position was to be temporary. From De Smet's description, it is believed St. Michaels was close to the current Albeni Falls, Idaho (Chittenden and Richardson 466 - 467). Joset wrote, "… the thing was done rather quickly [setting up St. Michaels]: the place was unfit being every spring (Joset Roll 32, 677) under water: therefore R. F. Desmet who wintered there with F. Hoecken moved the Mission about 4 miles lower and called it St. Ignatius (Joset Roll 32, 678) … leaving there F. Hoecken with B. Lyons (Joset Roll 32, 749)." After Easter in 1845, traveling by canoe from St. Mary's Mission to the Bay of the Kalispels, De Smet gives his account of the new location,

"On returning to the Bay, accompanied by Reverend Father Hoecken and several chiefs, my first care was to examine the lands belonging to this portion of the tribe of Kalispels, and select a fit site for erecting the new establishment of St. Ignatius. We found a vast and beautiful prairie, three miles in extent, surrounded by cedar and pine, in the neighborhood of the cavern of New Manresa and its quarries, and a fall of water more than 200 feet, presenting every advantage for the erection of mills. I felled the first tree, and after having taken all necessary measures to expedite the work, I departed for Walla Walla, where I embarked in a small boat and descended the Columbia as far as Fort Vancouver (Durham 123 - 124, Chittenden and Richardson 474)."

Life at The Kalispel St. Ignatius Mission, Pend Oreille River

Baptism, marriage and death records from the St. Ignatius Kalispel Nation are from June 10, 1844 until August 13, 1854 (Roll 5, 22 - 55). Father Adrian Hoecken's name is given in every year administering these Catholic sacraments. Brother McGean was in charge of the farm operations that were a crucial part of the Jesuits' plan to civilize the Indians and for them to be self-sustaining. Father Palladino purports the lesson of planting a "dead" seed proved the best means of illustrating a fundamental mystery of Christianity, the resurrection of the dead. Joset was pleased that Chief Loyola, eager to be instructed by the Jesuits, gave up hunting buffalo to live on crops planted at the farm. This made him poor. Joset describes the chief of the Kalispels (Standing Grizzly Bear, Christened Loyola by Hoecken), as "by far the best chief I have ever known (Joset 678)."

Father Joseph Joset explains the Jesuit motivation for being with the Indians, describes some of the differences he perceived between the Indians, and tells a story that gives us an impression of how he perceived the Kalispels:

"Of course our main aim was to make christians of these poor savages: their vicious habits were to be corrected: the main one, the root of many others was their native laziness: it was no easy task. … By far the laziest, and most addicted to vices … is the fisher, or rather the salmon eater: … The case is quite different among hunter: true the buffalo hunter will not work, his lot being only to gather the horses and kill the game: all the work fall upon the women, … The best disposed to profit by instruction are the tribes of small game hunter: by small game I mean elk, deer, bear, all but buffalo: they are necessarily active and energetic; the labors are more equally divided between the two sexes: they travel together over mountains, in winter on snow shoes, carrying on their backs all necessaries and the small children: the wife depends on the industry of her husband for her living, and though not so much of a slave as many buffalo hunters, still she is submissive and affectionate: such are in this vicinity the Calispels, the Coeur D'alenes and partly the Lake indians; I say partly because they lived too partly on Salmon.

There are other differences: v.g. the Calispels are very reticent, but if offended they will keep their resentment: one of them who had shown great affection and willingness to the missioners turned on a sudden: he became morose, kept aloof for more than a year, nobody knowing what was the matter; until one of the brothers went around and succeeded to fish out the mystery: The man had applied to the Father for a fishhook: being answered that there was none left, he construed it that we were unwilling to help him. -- (Joset Roll 32, 702)."

Joset provided a short chronology and overview, in the 1880's twenty years before his death, of what happened at St. Ignatius along the east side of the Pend Oreille River,

"1845. R. F. Desmet having … appointed F. Accolti Superior of S. F. Xaver, took F. Ravalli and B. McGean to the Kalispel Mission, or S. Ignatius. The Colville Indians and chiefly their Chief Martin Themixstolix went frequently to the Kalispels. F. Hoecken visited them once in a while: F. Ravally went to visit them and built the 1st chapel under the Invocation of St. Paul, on the hill between the fishery and the H. B. C. fort. They continued to be frequently visited from S. Ignatius. … the whole night was employed in public general confession the chief [Martin] imposing the penance which in the idea of the Indians is an absolution too, 10, 20, 30, 40 lashes (Joset roll 32, 747)."

In a May 10, 1846, letter at "S. Ignace," A. Hoecken reports to Father Superior, "Our Indians do very well, we have about 100 bushels of wheat, barley, peas, corn, potatoes, in the ground. … I expect in a few days the Arcs a plat here: … they will come to dig at the same time [the] gamache which is ripe already (Davis Box 14, Hoecken to F. Superior)." Joset's notes (Joset roll 32, 568 -591) tell that the 1846, 1847 winter was very severe,

"1846. R. F. Desmet returned in the spring by Colville, having visited S. Ignatius, … At the Kalispels, Father Hoecken was alone … and F. Joset and Brother Magri went to winter at the Kalispels. The winter was exceedingly severe. … At S. Ignatius in the bank of the river the snow was 5 feet deep. But for the excursions of the Kalispel Indians who fed the cattle with moss from the trees, we would have lost all the stock, the horses perished in the Coeur D'alene prairie. Mission among the Coeur d'Alenes moved from St. Joe River sixty miles north due to annual spring floods (Joset roll 32, 747)."

The spring runoff caused floods in 1845 and in 1846. There was no flood noted in 1847, but to escape high water, the Mission village was moved up the hill in 1848. The initial years at St. Ignatius on the Pend Oreille River were challenging, yet the missionaries thought they were making good progress. However, this headway was dealt a serious blow, when the Whitman's were killed in 1847 at their mission at Waiilatpu, Washington, causing a stir in Indian and white relationships. The massacre prompted the closure of most all other missions of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in the old Oregon territory, including the Tshimakain Mission to the Spokane Indians (Drury's Nine 433, Drury's Elkanah 207). The Spokanes are neighbors to the Kalispels and live to the southwest. Military awareness had suddenly become a government priority after the Whitman Massacre and the Cayuse War of 1848 (Shoenberg's Path 59). Personal safety was on the minds on the Catholic missionaries, fur traders, and the American government from this time until the Mission moves in 1854. Continuing with Father Joset's chronology:

"1847. When F. Joset left the Kalispels to return to the Coeur D'alenes on snow shoes, the 8th of April, the ground had begun to appear at the foot of the trees on the hill side: all our horses had perished on the Coeur D'alene prairie. Our cattle would have perished too, had not the Kalispel Indians by falling every day a number of pine trees and fed them with moss (of the branches). … F. DeVos … spent the summer partly at the Coeur D'alenes, partly at the Kalispels: … F. Menetry joined F. Hoecken at St. Ignatius. … D. Whitman killed: all the protestant missionaries ran away (Joset roll 32, 747)."

"1848. … At S. Ignatius. Kalispels F. F. Joset, Hoecken, Menetrey. … The winter was very severe: lose a great deal of stock. … The distribution for the winter; as follows … S. Ignatius, Kalispels, F. .F. Joset, Hoecken, Menetrey. … In the fall there was a reunion of the consultors at S. Ignatius Kalispels. F. Accolti having come up from [?]. F. [?]roer for the purpose[?] And for the distribution of the Fathers during that winter was: F. Louis Vercruysse at S. Ignatius Kalispels (Joset roll 32, 747)."

"1849. … Discovery of the mine in California (Joset roll 32, 747)."

Following are events and incidents that relate information during the years 1849 through 1851. Another severe winter was noted in 1849, and subsequently, the crops did not do well. During these severe winters that had deep snowfall, the priests report the Indians killed hundreds of deer and eventually exhausted much of the herd close to St. Ignatius. Fort Colville added protection, during this time, due to the increasing Indian hostility against the white settlements in their land. In 1850, St. Mary's Mission, the first in the planned reduction system, was closed because the Flathead Indians did not respond to the new way of life preached by Priests and due to Blackfeet harassment (Bergman and McAlear 22). Joset wrote that in "1851. F. Hoecken and Menetrey [were] at S. Ignatius (Joset roll 32, 747)."

On the other hand, Father Joset relates in a letter, dated 16 September 1851, to an unnamed Father of the Society of Jesus in St. Louis, the Indians are behaving well and a church is almost finished,

"You will learn with pleasure that the Kalispels or Pend'Oreilles, the Stietshoi or Pointed Hearts, the Shuyelpi or Kettle fall Indians & the tribes on the Lakes of the Columbia river, are giving the greatest satisfaction & consolation to their Missionaries & I may say, have never behaved better. The new church of St. Ignatius, thanks to the indefatigable zeal of Brother Francis Huybrechts, is almost finished; nothing else is wanting but the baptistry, the benches & communion table. The altars are very beautiful & require but a little touching to be perfect: the two side altars are adorned with two magnificent works from the chisel of Father Ravalli who, as you know, is an excellent artist. His statues of the crucifixion of our Lord and of his Blessed Mother, the ever Virgin Mary, are truly admirable & unique in this part of the world. … We have remarked that all the most fervent among the Indians have followed one another to the grave - they are attacked almost every year by some epidemic decease (Davis Box 14, Joset to Father)."

The whites brought new diseases to the Kalispels and neighboring tribes. The missionaries were immune from diseases that decimated whole Indian tribes. They also vaccinated willing Indians. As a result, the Indians looked at this as proof that the white's religion was to be listened to and followed. And importantly, Catholic followers lived to continue their faith whereas the non-believers died. Also, the Jesuits taught that Jesus came back from the dead and this added to the notion of power. "In [18]53 and [18]54 the small pox made great ravages among the Indians chiefly the Okinagan and St[?]lakams who refusing to observe direction died in great number (Joset roll 32, 747)."

Father Accolti, Superior to the Rocky district after Joseph Joset painted a negative state of affairs in a November 8, 1852 letter, "… The Indians [are] generally good on other respects, still abandoned to their [mo]ral indolence, & over indulging to their reluctance to w[ork] are of very little or of no help at all. Then our Brothers are all broken & wasted by their unrelenting labors, & I fear that shortly some of them shall yield … (Davis Box 14, Accolti to Murphy)." The missions always could use more man power, funds, and materials to enable success. Contributing to the other issues surrounding the move of St. Ignatius is the problem of direct support for the missions. The Rocky Mountain Mission, created in 1841 as part of the Vice-Province of Missouri, was redefined in 1851 as the California and Oregon Missions. This arrangement, however, left the missions without the necessary support from an established province, so in 1854 the Turin, Italy province of the Society of Jesus acceded to a request and assumed responsibility for the Western Missions (Carriker and Carriker, Roll 1, 11).

During the ten-year life of St. Ignatius Mission, Washington, the Catholic Rocky Mountain mission reduction system, after promising beginnings, was falling apart. In the decade before 1854, missions to the Flathead, Colville, and Blackfeet Indians had been closed (Peterson 24).

Washington Territory Created, 1853

The old Oregon country's abundant natural resources provided a good life at farming, logging, fishing, and hunting. Growing enthusiasm, during the 1830s and 1840s, for the Oregon Territory compelled Europeans to immigrate to America in search of a better life and join Americans in the westward expansion. The new settlements created conflict over land ownership because there were Indian people already living in the Oregon Territory.

Since the 1844 founding of the Mission on the Pend Oreille River, the Kalispel native country saw rapid political change with the Oregon Treaty of 1846, establishing it within American jurisdiction, and the Donation Act of 1850, which gave lands to settlers without regard to any claim that the Indians might have.

The Catholic missionary John De Smet discussed the Indian issue with John Haverty, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs at St. Louis (Davis Box 14, Haverty to De Smet). Haverty writes on February 16, 1852 responding to five questions posed by Father De Smet apparently much earlier, "Dear Father, I have respectfully to apologize to you for my long delay in answering the questions some time ago propounded by you on the subject of our Western Indians." So, as early as 1852, the Catholics and American government was planning together. Haverty's 1852 correspondence lay out a disquieting scene, as he saw it, for the Indians, "that they will gradually melt away as the wave of the White population advances, … you will find the causes that produced [this] result in active operation, … by the unprecedented emigration from Europe." Haverty answers De Smet's five questions:

1) The fate of the Indians east of the Mississippi was that they gradually receded as the white population advanced.

2) "It is very probable that some few years hence, treaties may be made with these tribes for portions of their lands, and reservations be set apart for their future residences; but although the letter of the treaty may guarantee such reservations, still, you may be sure that as soon as the supposed wants of [the] growing white population require these lands, pretext will not be wanting to displ[ace] the Indians. This will be done either by negotiation and a nominal purchase, or [in] making their situation so uncomfortable as to leave them no other alternative th[an] removal."

3) When Oregon becomes a state, the settler's policy, previously embraced by all other states, will be adopted, namely to remove the Indians from the state.

4) "When the lands of the Indians are no longer valuable, and so long as no sufficient motive exists for their acquisition by white man, they may be permitted to retain them.

5) "… that if the Missionaires cou[ld] congregate the half breeds, and the more docile of the Indians into districts [and] counties, under the territorial law of Oregon referred to, and impact a religious and agricultural education to their youth, the result will be a still greater admixture of Indian and White blood, and hence, doubtless, the future [popu]lation of Oregon will be in some degree heterogeneous."

Haverty follows-up the 1852 letter, and other conversations with De Smet, in October 28, 1854, "… I confess I was surprised - indeed somewhat startled - to find that what was then only Opinions, has in little more than two years become fact."

The increasing number of Oregon Trail immigrants led to the creation of the Washington Territory in 1853. Isaac Ingalls Stevens was appointed the first Governor. Stevens was also in charge of the United States Coast Survey which had the task to survey a railroad route from the Mississippi River to Puget Sound and he was also was the Superintendent of Indian affairs in the Washington Territory (Meany 159). Stevens thought these three jobs fit well with each other because they were interrelated. Building a railroad and providing for new settlers required land that Indians occupied.

As superintendent of Indian affairs, Stevens was instructed by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, on May 9, 1853, to obtain information about all the tribes in the new territory, report informal treaties that had been made, give the needs and expenses of the Indian service. In 1853 Dr. George Suckley, army physician to Washington Territory survey party, visited the Kalispel Mission on the Pend Oreille River (Cotes 23). Lieutenant John Mullan was tasked with surveying a road from Fort Benton on the Missouri River to the old Fort Walla Walla on the Columbia River and he also came in contact with the St. Ignatius missionaries (Shoenberg's Path 59). From these contacts, the priests of St. Ignatius became participants in planning the solution to the Indian "problem."

Dr. George Suckley, aide to Governor Stevens on the Northern Pacific Railroad exploring expedition, visited St. Ignatius in 1853. Suckley's reports lead Stevens to record in an 1855 report to President Pierce that "it would be difficult to find a more beautiful example of successful missionary labors (Morton 219)." Dr. George Suckley, gives a rich description, in his official report dated December 19, 1853, that the Kalispel Mission is doing well,

"From the Reverend Mr. Hoecken I have the following particulars concerning the mission and the condition of the inhabitants in the vicinity: The mission was established nine years ago; the whole country at that time being a vast wilderness. Its inhabitants were the Kalispelms. They lived mostly from the Pend d'Oreille or Kalispem lake, down the Clark river, to this point: they speak nearly the same language as the Flathead or Selish Indians (Fuller et al 97 - 98)."

"There are two lay brethren attached to the mission. One of these, Brother Francis [Huybrechts], is a perfect jack of all trades. He is by turns a carpenter, blacksmith, gunsmith, and tinman--in each of which he is a good workman. The other, Brother Magean, superintends the farming operations. They both worked hard in bringing the mission to its present state of perfection, building successively a windmill, blacksmith and carpenter's shops, barns, cowshed, etc., besides an excellent chapel, in addition to a large dwelling-house of hewn timbers for the missionaries.

The church is quite large, and is tastefully and even beautifully decorated. I was shown the handsomely carved and girded altar, the statue of 'Our Mother,' brazen crosses and rich bronzed fonts, work, which, at sight appears so well executed as to lead one to suppose that they all must have been imported. But no, they are the result of the patient labor and ingenuity of the devoted missionaries, and work which is at the same time rich, substantial and beautiful.

Works of ornament are not their only deeds. A grindstone, hewn out of the native rock, and moulded by the same hand which made the chisel which wrought it; tinware, a blacksmith's shop, bellows, ploughshares, bricks for their chimneys, by their industry. In household economy they are not excelled. They make their own soap, candles, vinegar, etc., and it is both interesting and amusing to listen to their account of their plans, shifts and turns in overcoming obstacles at their first attempts, their repeated failures, and their triumphs.

The mission farm consists of about 160 acres of cleared land. Spring wheat, barley, onions, cabbages, parsnips, peas, beets, potatoes and carrots are its principal products. … The other productions of the farm are cattle, hogs, poultry, butter and cheese.

Around the mission buildings are the houses of the natives. They are built of logs and hewn timber, and are sixteen in number. They are, also, quite a number of mat and skin lodges. Although the tribe is emphatically a wandering tribe, yet the mission and its vicinity are looked upon as headquarters (Durham 119)."

"… At the mission they have a small mill, by which the Indians grind their wheat. The mill is turned by hand, and will grind but three bushels a day (Durham 120)."

Contrary to Dr. Suckley's positive report about the health of St. Ignatius, the mission was to relocate the next year. Seeds of this were uncovered during his 1853 stay with the Mission. Suckley communicates that the missionaries wanted to move the mission,

"The missionaries have long wanted the natives to move to the Coeur d'Alene valley, or to the Camas and Horse Plains, where the land is better. They have offered to transport the things necessary to build new houses, but the people are unwilling to go. They say: 'This is our country; here are the graves of our forefathers; here we were born, and here we wish to die; we do not want to leave our country, poor as it is' (Fuller et al 98)."

Suckley shares a short conversation he held with Father Hoecken that shows, in spite of his long report on how well the mission is getting along, the food was not bountiful:

"… Says he [Father Hoecken], 'Doctor, you will scarcely believe it, surrounded by water as we are, we often have difficulty in getting fish even for our Friday dinner.' I [Suckley] replied, jokingly, 'I suppose, Father, that the Indians find no difficulty in observing a fast on Friday.' He answered immediately: 'I never spoke to them about it; it would not do. Poor creatures, they fast too much as it is, and it is not necessary for them to fast more (Durham 120)."

After having surveyed the field, Stevens delivered his report on December 26, 1853 defining the Indian policy for the Washington Territory: (1) The Indians must be "paid for their lands and placed on reservations where they could be cared for." (2) Divide Washington into five districts for administration purposes. "The agencies were to be the Puget Sound region, the Yakima and Spokane country, and the St. Mary's Valley. The sub-agencies were to be southwestern Washington and the Spokane country (Coan 11 - 12)."

"In a report, September 16, 1854, Isaac I. Stevens laid down certain principles of Indian policy which he believed should be followed in making treaties with the Indians (Coan 13 - 14):"

The aim is to prepare the Indians to become citizens of the United States.

The reservations should be good lands and "allow each head of a family a homestead."

"The Indians should be supplied with farms and farmers to instruct them in agriculture."

"Many bands should be concentrated on one reservation in order that the control of the government over them might be more easily effected."

"The authority of the chiefs of the tribes should be increased so that they could be held responsible to the government for the conduct of their bands."

"The Indians should not be excluded from the fisheries" and hunting grounds."

Coan writes that, "The plan of concentrating the Indians was probably the best but was difficult to effect without the use of force, as Stevens must have known. In the previous year, while among the Pend d'Oreille, he had been told of the effort of the Jesuit missionaries to persuade the Indians to move to a better region, and their refusal on the ground of ancestral ties to their own country (Coan 14)."

Thus, during 1853 and 1854, as a result of the increased settlements in Washington Territory, the Indian service had been organized, appropriations had been made for making treaties with the Indians, and Indian policy recommendations had been made. In 1854, the commissioner and the superintendent of Indian affairs both expressed the belief that the time had come for the final settlement of the Indian problem in Washington (Coan 14). The Kalispel Indians would experience these American government policies in action.

Agricultural Challenges Along the Pend Oreille River

The missionaries wanted the Indians to give up their so-called "nomadic" lifestyle to become farmers. To establish this farm life the Catholics planted crops. Unknowingly, they planted in the Pend Oreille River flood plain, so it can be inferred that the daily survival problems at St. Ignatius on the Pend Oreille River were caused by the missionaries when they altered the traditional methods of subsistence. The Mission farming enterprise may have also replaced some of the vast camas fields.

The geography of the Pend Oreille River also played an important role in the lives of the people who lived near its banks. The Pend Oreille River drains an enormous region west of the Continental Divide including part of Waterton Provincial Park in British Columbia, Western Glacier National Park, and to the area South of Butte, Montana. The Pend Oreille River is formed by the North, Middle and South Forks of the Flathead River, the Clark Fork River, Bitterroot River and Blackfoot Rivers of Montana, together with the Pack River and Priest River in Idaho and the Calispel River in Washington. The enormous snow packs of these regions collectively provide volumes of water that cause great fluctuations in the Pend Oreille River as the water passes through the Calispel Valley on the way to the Columbia River and eventually to the Pacific Ocean. Typical water flow of the Pend Oreille River in the Calispel Valley will be from 10,000 to 20,000 cubic feet of water per second. During the spring melt which normally peaks around June 9 each year, the flow can be over 100,000 cubic feet per second.

Prior to the 1950’s, there were no man made dams along the Pend Oreille, Flathead, Clark Fork and other rivers. There was no flood control system and the river and adjoining flood lands had to absorb and carry the snow melt at the whim of Mother Nature. This vast fluctuation of the Pend Oreille River at Calispel Valley and its unpredictable nature may have led to the quick demise of the St. Ignatius Mission, and why it was relocated further east and up the river to the Flathead Valley in northwestern Montana. Although the elevation is higher in the Flathead Valley, the climate lends itself better to agriculture, and the land is not subjected to the relentless flooding experienced at Calispel Valley. Also, there are wider panoramas and a greater abundance of fertile ground which lends itself to the agricultural basis that the Jesuits were trying to establish for the Native Americans.

"As early as 25 March 1849, Father Hoecken wrote to Very Reverend Father Roothaan that as 'The lands of these Indians are all sterile and little suited to farming; moreover the prairie is exposed to floods in May and June,' the mission should be transferred to some better site. While Father Hoecken wrote these there were ten feet of snow on the ground and the past winter had been unusually severe (Davis Ignatius 19)."

Jesuit Joset describes that the clay soil was not good for growing and that severe winters depleted the surrounding game animals causing the Indians and missionaries to starve. The missionaries asked Loyola to consider moving to land where a good farm could be made. The Kalispels responded saying that God gave them this land and they ought to keep it. Joset relates that the Jesuits then told the Indians not to question or complain anymore or blame their starvation on the Catholic Fathers.

"So things went on very well for the instruction and morality: But we are composed of soul and body, and these poor indians accustomed to ramble over mountain and valleys in search of the[ir] living cannot be confined round a church if they don't find on what to live: these Calispels used to live chiefly on game and roots to live have a nomadic life. Two extraordinary severe winters, [18]47 and [18]49 very nearly exterminated the game. a large farm had been started but they sowed much and reaped little. The place had been badly selected over a clay subsoil only a few inches of loam gave a very poor prospect: The seed immediately degenerated, in a very few years the soil was exhausted : the people began to complain that they were starving: all searches for good soil in all their country ~~proved~~ failed.

The then Sup. Gen. told Loyola: 'I could by from other Indians a tract of good land, where you could make a good farm, if you are willing to move.' -- 'I will ask the people,' he said. Next day he came saying: the opinions are divided: some would move, others are say ~~saying:~~ 'God gave us this land: we ought to keep it.' -- Very well said the father: I will never move the question any more: but let the people cease to complain that they are starving on account of the father (Joset Roll 32, 679)."

Joset writes about the food problem, "What wonder [it] is with such a leader [Loyola] the mission prospered: these poor savages were being instructed and they practiced well what they were learning: there was one drawback: the land could not provide enough, chiefly on dry years, for their maintenance: married[?], were heard that they had to starve for religious sake (Joset Roll 4, 323)." Father Joset, stationed at Colville at this time, brings up a new reason for the move, not enough water. Joset also introduces the issue of finding good farm land on another tribes territory, "You have no good land: I could treat with some other tribe, to give you some place where you could make good farms … think on it whether you would be disposed to move (Joset Roll 4, 323)." The Kalispels' conclude they want to remain where they are.

Religious Differences

For years, the Indians demonstrated interest in the Christian religion by requesting missionaries, listening willingly, learning quickly, conscientiously performing duties, accepting what the white man wanted, rejecting their own ways, and responding favorably to the Christian message. However, in 1854 at St. Ignatius, unhappiness with the white man's religion set in and the conflict between the cultures was evident.

One of the problems was that the Kalispels had no concept of sin, at least not the same idea as the Catholics. The Jesuits wanted the Indians to abandon their buffalo hunts, only have one wife, and to quit stealing horses. Also, the Kalispel resisted the idea of an afterlife, wondering why a loving God would send children to hell. They found little appeal in a heaven with no relatives or buffalo. Finally, the Catholics discredited the medicine man as evil and wanted medicine bags burned. Joset shared his experience,

"What were their religious notions: no idea of a Supreme being, of a supreme lawgiver, of a soul, of an hereafter: now this is the 25 year that I have lived constantly among them: I could not divine in their language any original word for God, Soul, Spirit, hell law. … Have had they no faith whatever? It is my opinion that there is no man who does not believe in some mysteries, of one kind or other, … Yes the savage believes in an invisible power superior to his: they call that power somesh: but where is it is what being is directed well that power nobody could say: they would invoke: the bear, the deer, the wolf, everything but God: … (Joset Roll 32, 821)."

Native customs were not so easily changed. The Kalispels were interested in this life, not in an afterlife. The Indians were told or made to feel by the missionaries that their beliefs were unacceptable the way they were, that they needed to change to a new religion. As a result, the Indians doubted their old medicine and felt ashamed of who they were. The Catholic power did not succeed at St. Ignatius Mission among the Kalispels on the Pend Oreille River. The Kalispels realized that the priests were fallible men.

Kalispel Chief Loyola Dies, 1853

The death of the renowned Kalispel Chief Loyola, who died on August 6, 1853 (Davis Box 14, Hoecken to De Smet), proved to be a significant factor leading to move the location. Father Joset relates the next chief, Victor, complains that the missionaries do not love the Kalispels because they are allowing them to starve to death (De Smet 298). Victor is portrayed as weak and not standing for order. Joset writes that the Kalispels continually repeat that they have been abandoned by the black gowns and responds that the Indians have been told to settle in a place where they can live and they will have a priest (Joset Roll 32 687).

"Things went on well until God called the good chief to his reward he had continued to watch with great zeal for the welfare of the Mission to his truly christian end.

The successor Victor a good man, very tender hearted lacked the intelligence and firmness of his predecessor, and it was the beginning of the end. Crops and hunting failing they would starve.

The poor shanty in which divine services had been celebrated from the beginning was replaced by a nice church of dressed logs, a commodious holi[?] station had been built, stables, barns, shops: many Indians had their log houses; but all this was not food.

During the winter 1853 ? the Superior at Colville received several (Joset roll 32, 679) several letters intimating that the neophytes were clamoring to move to a place where they could live: in the forth letter the Chief Victor was reported saying: 'the Superior does not love us, since he wants us to die here of starvation': there upon they were told: 'go and look for a better situation': F. Menetrey and Br. McGean were sent, and choosed the actual position of S. Ignatius Mission (Joset Roll 32, 687)."

"Alas, he [Loyola] was not to have a successor like himself: he proposed as the best to succeed him the actual chief Victor, a man of intelligence but too much tender hearted and in consequence very weak; his brother Simon was the reverse: as long as he lived he has helped the things to go on not too bad: but he died and since after his death desorder has prevailed. But we must take things a little higher: in 185 the starvation was greater. I received in Colvile several letters from Father Hoecken relating that the people wanted to move the Mission: At first I gave no answer: it was only after the fourth letter when it was reported that the chief Victor had said: 'Joseph does not love us, since he wants us to starve here' that I wrote: 'go and look for a better situation.' So R. F. Menetrey and Br. McGean went up and selected the actual site of St. Ignatius Mission: all were agreed: I said again: make ready (Joset Roll 4, 324)."

It is seen from the Joset writings that Menetrey and McGean selected the new site in 1853. In his biographical sketch of Adrian Hoecken, Father Joset writes that Father Hoecken wants to move St. Ignatius Mission,

"… Even in his last sickness he [Loyola] did not cease to care for the good behavior of his people until the Father reportedly told him to ease his mind of such care.

The land of S. Ignatius was very poor and very grudgingly repaid the labor: the (Joset roll 32, 751) Sup Gen problem proposed to Loyola to bargain with some neighboring tribes for a piece of land where to transfer the mission: the chief consulted his people: their opinions were divided some were for the change, other objected to leaving their native land: the Superior then said that he would never move that question any more: that if they were suffering want it was their own choice

Some years after the death of Loyola ~~the general superior again~~ Fr Hoecken begged to have the mission removed to a better place, after many demands he obtained to have it transported to the actual site of S. Ignatius: but F. Hoecken could not with all his influence keep the Kalispels to the new site: the love of native soil prevailed with most of them: he himself having got a choice[fleece?], for at S. Ignatius was sent to the blackfeet: after one year he went to california for his third year and thence to Missouri his province (Joset Roll 32, 752)."

The idea that a Kalispel Chief selected the new site is found in a Hoecken 1855 letter to Father De Smet:

"It was proposed during the summer of 1854 to begin a new mission some 200 miles North east of the Calispels, not far from the Flathead lake, in the vicinity of the old Mission of St. Mary's among the Flathead, where a convenient site for a Mission had been pointed out to us by the Calispel Chief Alexander, who formerly accompanied you in your travels. Having set out from the Calispel mission on the 28th of August [1854], I arrived at the place designated on the 24th of September … (Davis Box 14, Hoecken to De Smet; De Smet 299)."

Alexander is not a Kalispel proper, but an Upper Pend Oreille, and lived closer to the proposed site than the Kalispel proper or Lower Pend Oreille. If Indians did help the Catholics select the Montana spot, the Indians pointed out and led the missionaries to what was known as Snieleman or Sinielman, a word meaning meeting place or rendezvous in the Kalispel's Salish language (St. Ignatius Mission, Montana brochure 5, Schoenberg's Paths 59). Sinielman was considered a common ground, and wintering spot for all neighboring Indian tribes. It is contended that selection of this type of site was at the request of the Missionaries and the American Government, and not that of the Kalispel Indians. Thus, the Indians assisted in directing, or leading the missionaries to a place that fit the plans of the Catholic missionaries and American government.

The Kalispel St. Ignatius Mission Moves to Montana, 1854

The time period 1844 to 1854, the tenure of St. Ignatius Mission at the Pend Oreille River, saw rapid changes occurring in the old Oregon Territory brought on by increasing white settlement. The remotely located, isolated Kalispels were quickly surrounded by government and missionary policies that sought to transform Indian culture into Catholicism and Americanism. The decision to move St. Ignatius Mission was prompted by the priests and U. S. government because they wanted to consolidate at a centralized location to better serve the region's Indians on land of the future Flathead Indian Reservation. The Flathead Indian Reservation was established just ten months after the relocation in 1855 (Bergman and McAlear 31-32). In addition, Governor Stevens called a treaty council in 1855 with the Indians that had been relocated to the Montana site.

Joset's record is again used to see that the move was not an easy choice for the Kalispels who had second thoughts about it. Some even stayed on the Pend Oreille River:

"Orders were given to prepare: Br. Francis made 5 light barges and quantity of boxes: the upper Pend O'reille came with hundred pack horses, and when every thing was ready the Kalispels changing mind wanted to stop. The Superior answered, 'we are no babies: You pushed us: and when every thing is ready, you back out forward (Joset Roll 32, 687)."

"Br. Fr. Huybrechts made 5 small barges, and great many boxes, to pack the things: after harvest things were ready: the Pends Oreille had come with about 100 pack horses, to help carrying every thing Then it was that the Calispels said 'el tam, i.e. not any more.' I answered: 'we are no children; go on.'

And so they moved on: Most of the Calispels went along: 2 or 3 families remain. F. Hoecken sold cattle for 2000 Dollars and so had means to put the new place on a good footing (Joset Roll 4, 324)."

The St. Ignatius Mission, Montana National Historic Site tourist literature does not state that the Kalispels who did follow the missionaries to Montana were rebuked into doing so or that the Kalispels returned to the Pend Oreille River valley within a year. This information shows the disillusionment of the Indians about the move, which is in stark contrast to the glad narrative that the Indians "requested" and "initiated" the move.

Why did most Kalispel follow the Catholics to the new Montana Mission? One explanation is that they followed their Chief Victor. In addition, religion can compensate people for their inability to gain certain things they desire (Stark 73) and therefore most of the Kalispels initially followed the Catholics to Montana. Although unable to gain desired worldly rewards at the Pend Oreille River Kalispel Mission, the Catholic religion provided ways to endure. Most of the Kalispels still believed in the mystical powers of the missionaries who were a link to the most sought after reward, attainable by rich and poor, life after death. The new ideas of the Catholic religion, may have been seen as a way for the Kalispels to adapt to and deal with the arrival of the whites. Another reason the Kalispels went to Montana was that they desired to have a better way of life on the new land as promised by the Catholic Fathers.

After the Move To Montana: Hell's Gate, Flathead, Treaty, 1855

Joset's writings show that not all the Kalispels went to Montana. The writings also relate that those who did move returned to their home along the Pend Oreille river within a couple of years,

"Victor went with his people, a few remaining in the old place: but after a year many returned and the chief himself: once asked for the reason he said: we found that we could not keep our autonomy: still many remained at the new station and did well: while those who are now at Kalispel are in a miserable condition drinking, gambling and all the vices following it.

Victor instead of standing for order is following down stream: and there is no one to keep order. A good chief is a treasure: a weak one a stumbling block. These people continually repeat: 'we have been abandoned by the Blackgowns': what has been said shows how false it is: besides they were repeatedly told by the V. R. Sup. Gen., 'Settle in a place where you can live and you will have a priest.' It is said to deaf ears (Joset roll 32, 687)."

"But most of the Calispels who had gone along after a very few years turned back to these old poor lands: they are visited every year several times: They keep their faith; but they live a rached life: pure savages hunting and fishing: and as the chief is very weak there is much desorder: they have been told many times to settle some there, and they would have a residing priest: they won't quit their nomadic life: and are complaining that the priests rejected them; As for the further history of the St. Ignatius Mission, younger men are better to write it (Joset Roll 4, 324)."

The fact that Governor and Indian Superintendent Stevens called treaty negotiations directly after St. Ignatius moved to Montana, shows relocation to centralize the Indians was a part of the government plan. And as it has been seen, the move would help the Catholics serve more Indians with the limited resources employed.

Washington Governor and Indian Superintendent Isaac Stevens writes to Joset in November 1855, desiring his presence at the council with friendly Indians on December 1, "I am personally and officially under weighty obligations both to yourself and Father Ravalli for your good offices, and I shall bear testimony to the official services you have endured in the cause of humanity." Stevens says Father Ravalli is already with him and that he has written an invitation to HBC McDonald (Joset roll 32, 782). Stevens also had to repeatedly summon Father Adrian Hoecken to attend, because Hoecken was delayed and preoccupied battling a deadly cholera outbreak at the newly founded St. Ignatius Mission in Montana. Governor Stevens needed the Catholic missionaries present at the treaties and wrote specifically of Father Hoecken that his, "… influence over these Indians is almost unbounded. … He has promised to interpose lo [no] obstacle whatever to the views of the government, and I have confidence in his singleness of purpose (Bigart and Woodcock 64, 137)."

At the July 1855 Hell's Gate Treaty discussions, Stevens assembled, "… three tribes, the Flatheads under their chief Victor; the Upper Pend Oreilles under their Chief Alexander; the Kootneays under their chief Michelle. I am sorry that the Lower Pend Oreilles with their chief Victor are not here (Bigart and Woodcock 24)." At this Flathead Treaty Council, Alexander claimed to be chief of the Lower Pend d'Oreille as well. Governor Stevens promptly denied Alexander's claim to leadership of the Lower Pend d'Oreille or his right to speak for that group at the Council (Ewers 47). Recall that Father Hoecken said Kalispel Chief Alexander pointed out the "convenient" new Montana Mission site location. Governor Stevens asked Alexander, "Who made you the chief of the Lower Pend 'Oreilles?" To which Alexander replied, "I don't know (Bigart and Woodcock 43)."

Stevens, representing the United States government, wanted to make an agreement with the Indians attending. They wanted the Indians to sell their lands and move to one reservation. Even though they were not represented at the treaty talks, Stevens wanted the Lower Pend Oreilles to go on this one tract of land (Bigart and Woodcock 30 - 31). The one reservation in mind was the land occupied around the new St. Ignatius Mission in Montana. Another provision of the treaty provided the Indians with a school, a hospital and physician, a farmer, a blacksmith, a wheelwright, a saw mill, and a grist mill. Jesuit Father Adrian Hoecken signed the Treaty document that created the Flathead Indian Reservation.

After the move had been made, Father Hoecken wrote in a letter to De Smet dated 18 October 1855, concerning the St. Ignatius move that both Mullan and Stevens are supportive of the new mission:

"Lieutenant Mullan, who spent the winter among the Flat-Heads of St. Mary's, has procured me much valuable aid in founding this mission, and has all along taken a lively interest in its prosperity (De Smet 301)."

"Governor Stevens, who has always shown himself a real father and well affected towards our Indians, has expressed a determination to do all in his power to forward the success of the mission (Davis Box 14, Hoecken to De Smet 1855 letter; De Smet 303)."

In an April 1857 letter, Hoecken tells De Smet, "Our mission here fulfills already all the conditions of the treaty of Gov. Stevens (Davis Box 14, Hoecken to De Smet)." Almost immediately after St. Ignatius moved from the Pend Oreille River to Montana, the American government worked the plan to move several different Indian Nations off their land consolidating them on one reserve. However, the Kalispel Indians were not participants to these 1855 treaty negotiations as they had returned to their home along the Pend Oreille River in Washington State.

Conclusion, Summary:

Remembering St. Ignatius Mission, Pend Oreille River, Washington, 1844 to 1854

Two years after the move, Father Adrian Hoecken wrote in a letter to Father De Smet, " … O must we never cease weeping regretting our fine chapel below at the Calispels. Several among others, Victor seeing the abandoned church last Spring wept. Several of the Calispels, Victor etc. have already their fields here; still they did not sell their lands below (Davis Box 14, Hoecken to De Smet)."

The missionary motivation for Christianizing Indians may have sprung from the best ideals, but for the Indians the impact proved to be upsetting. The Indians gave up their way of life and attempted to follow the white man's religion, expecting to be rewarded for doing so. However, the Indians experienced starvation, death by disease, and had their tribes relocated.

The Saint (St.) Ignatius Mission and Kalispel people were relocated by the Catholic Jesuits to Montana in 1854. The Kalispels subsequently returned to their land along the Pend Oreille River within a year or two, but the mission no longer existed. The Kalispel Indian tribe's fight for a reservation was won in 1914. The heritage of St. Ignatius is that the Kalispels who continue to live on the reservation are the direct descendants of those Indians who were first Christianized in 1844. The Catholics continue to be a part of the Kalispel life as the Indians are predominantly Catholics.

The history of the founding of St. Ignatius Mission, Washington, provides impetus to remember or become aware for the first time of the story of the Catholic mission among Indians in the Pend Oreille River country. The story of the St. Ignatius Mission on the Pend Oreille River provides a look at the most intimate aspect of the contact between Christian missionaries and the Kalispel Indians. The study of the St. Ignatius Mission, Washington, 1844 to 1854, provides a view that the struggle between the Natives of the Oregon Territory and the emigrants was difficult for the Kalispel Indians. The story of the Kalispels and other Native Americans continues to play a part in the fundamental question whether Indian tribes will vanish by assimilation into American society or remain legally and culturally apart (Fahey xii).

The view that the Catholic Kalispel Mission moved to Montana in 1854 at the request and initiative of the Indians themselves needs to be discarded. The Catholics' prescription to civilize the Indian led to starvation. Also, the notion that the Kalispels selected the new Mission site should always be put in context that an Upper Pend Oreille Indian, not a Kalispel of the Bay, pointed out the new Montana location. In addition, the new St. Ignatius location chosen in 1854 fit the plans of the Catholic missionaries and the American government and was an Indian common ground meeting place. St. Ignatius was the cornerstone of the plans that culminated the next year with Stevens 1855 Hell's Gate Treaty and creation of the Flathead Indian Reservation. The arrival of Catholic and Protestant missions, American settlements and government intervention changed forever the Kalispels' way of life. All of these factors played into the struggle of the Kalispel Nation for identity, recognition, and justice.

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Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank Sylvia, Erica, Anna, and Erin Ellersick, Dr. Lloyd Keith, William Piper, Sandy Ellersick, Richard Bockemuehl, David Kingma, Faith McClenny, Robert Betts for their help on this and future projects.

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