signed respectfully recommended Rev. H. H. Spalding for the of fice of teacher of the Nez Perce Indians. Mr. Spalding and his wife came to Oregon in company with the late Dr. Whitman and wife in 1836. He was stationed among the Nez Perces as Missionary. He and his wife taught them the use of letters; reduced their language to writing; taught some of them to read and write; translated a part of the Bible and printed it in their language and also a small hymn book, and continued to labor among them until Nov. 1847, when Dr. Whitman and family were murdered by the Cayuse Indians, compelling others to flee. Mr. Spalding introduced some of the arts among the Nez Perces. Men learned to till the ground and raise and secure crops, take care of stock and assist in attending both a saw and a grist mill. He organized a small church which still exists under the care of an Indian preacher named Timothy, who often preaches to them. But that church needs Mr. Spalding's presence and care. The Indians have often asked him to come back. He is now on the Touchet River, ready and willing to return to his old station if he can be supported. We believe that his early location among them, in that capacity, would tend to preserve their friendship for the Americans and thus preserve peace." Among the thirty-three signatures to this interesting petition, the following can easily be deciphered: G. H. Atkinson, A. G. Henry, W. T. Adams, J. O. Rayner, W. C. Johnson, James Pearson, William C. Dement, A. L. Lovejoy, J. S. Griffin, W. Straight, D. D. Tompkins, William Whitlock. D. W. Craig, Cris Taylor, L. F. Carter, R. Gammill, M. Barn, John G. Toner, James K. Kelly, Thomas F. Scott, A. Halland, I. Myrick, P. B. Chamberlain, J. Fleming, J. M. Bacon, F. Charman. The petition is endorsed "Old Spaulding, Jany. 13, 1862." The word "old" may denote a lack of appreciation of the missionary's request. At any rate, it seems not to have been granted. Mr. Spalding's daughter, Mrs. Eliza Spalding Warren, published a little book called "Memoirs of the West" in 1916. On page 11 she says. of her father: "In 1871 he went back to resume the work so abruptly terminated by the Whitman massacre." His tombstone near the old mission records his death on August 3, 1874. The letter and petition add another note of pathos to the missionary history of the Oregon country. A letter from Dr. W. Fraser Tolmie in Victoria to B. F. Kendall under date of August 14, 1862, speaks of Mr. Kendall's friend Rev. Starr King, the famous California preacher. He gave an address-"Shadow and Substance"-in Victoria and Dr. Tolmie said: "I wish Victoria were large enough for us to have such a clergyman as Mr. King here." A copy, certified as correct by B. F. Kendall, of a letter from Secretary of State William H. Seward to William Huntington, United States Marshal for Washington Territory, dated July 15, 1862, approves the prevention of the attempt to sell lands of the Puget Sound Agricultural Company (British) for taxes "until the subject can formally be adjusted by treaty, which it is hoped may soon be accomplished." The manuscript copy of an address by B. F. Kendall on "The Prospect of Freedom in Europe" is dated September, 1852, and opens as follows: "For the past three years the affairs of Europe have been of more general interest to mankind than at any previous period of the world history." On gilt-edged paper C. C. Leeds writes a gossipy letter from Washington City to his friend B. F. Kendall in Washington Territory under the date of June 18, 1854. In a beautifully written letter, James G. Swan, at Neah Bay in 1861, asked for a position in the Indian service that he might continue among the tribes he had been studying for ten years. When B. F. Kendall was absent from office, his clerk, W. G. Dunlap, wrote him a letter of little importance except for the mentioning of a few pioneers in 1861. Alexander S. Abernethy wrote a letter asking the appointment of his son as an Indian teacher in 1861. Three weeks later he wrote another withdrawing the request. Mr. Kendall saved copies of his carefully prepared answers. There were evidently religious quarrels over appointments and removals in the Indian service in 1861. A Nebraska Centennial This Quarterly was invited to be represented at a celebration by the Nebraska State Historical Society acting in conjunction with patriotic, military and civic organizations of Nebraska and of the United States. The occasion was the centennial anniversaries of the landing of the first military forces of the United States in the upper Missouri region in September and October, 1819, and the establishment of Fort Atkinson, which for the period 1819-1827 was the farthest west military post in the United States. The date of the celebration was Saturday, October 11, 1919. Living Pioneers of Washington In the issue of this Quarterly for July, 1919, there was published a list of the biographies of pioneers of the State of Washington which had appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer up to June 21, 1919. The list is here continued up to January 1, 1920. The dates are those of the Post-Intelligencer in which the biographies appeared, in each case on the editorial page. July 1, Donald Mac Innes, Dungeness. July 11, Joel Franklin Warren, Seattle. October 31, Edward S. Bucklin, Warren, Me. November 1, D. O. Pearson, Stanwood. November 3, Calvin S. Barlow, Tacoma. November 4, Mrs. Martha Ann Bush, Issaquah. November 5, Mrs. Mary Catharine Spalding, Almota. November 7, Mrs. Virginia M .Herrmann, Okanogan. November 10, Capt. James W. Keen, Seattle. November 12, Mr. and Mrs. John F. Anderson, Fir. November 18, Mr. and Mrs. B. L. Northup. Clearwater. December 15, Mrs. Mary A. Jackson, Seattle. December 16, Mrs. Zeralda H. Clark, Retsil. The Washington Historical Quarterly Contributing Editors CLARENCE B. BAGLEY, Seattle W. D. LYMAN, Walla Walla F. W. HOWAY, New Westminster, B. C. Managing Editor EDMOND S. MEANY VOL. XI. NO. 2 Business Manager APRIL, 1920 VICTOR J. FARRAR. ISSUED QUARTERLY Two Dollars per Year Contents The Reopening of the Russian- WILLIAM SYLVESTER HOLT, D. D.. Beginning of Mission Work in DOCUMENTS-The Nisqually Journal, Edited by Victor J. Farrar. BOOK REVIEWS NEWS DEPARTMENT 136 150 155 THE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY UNIVERSITY STATION SEATTLE, WASHINGTON Entered as second-class matter, November 15, 1906, at the Postoffice at Seattle, Washington, under the Act of Congress of July 16, 1894 The Washington University Officers and Board of Trustees CLARENCE B. BAGLEY, President JUDGE JOHN P. HoYT, Vice-President JUDGE ROGER S. GREENE, Treasurer JUDGE THOMAS Burke JUDGE CORNELIUS H. HANFORD SAMUEL HILL PROFESSOR EDMOND S. MEANY, Secretary Seattle DEPARTMENT OF PRINTING, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON |