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    Priests and Prospectors: A History of Montana, Volume II: Montana History Series, #2
    Priests and Prospectors: A History of Montana, Volume II: Montana History Series, #2
    Priests and Prospectors: A History of Montana, Volume II: Montana History Series, #2
    Ebook234 pages2 hours

    Priests and Prospectors: A History of Montana, Volume II: Montana History Series, #2

    By Greg Strandberg

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    About this ebook

    Montana comes alive from 1840 to 1870 in this mesmerizing second volume of the state's history, Priests and Prospectors.

    Montana in 1840 was a very quiet place. Indians roamed about as they wished and there were few white men around. The 1850s saw some increased activity, but things largely stayed the same. Then on a hot summer day in 1862 one man struck gold and everything changed.

    Discover the journey that Montana took from a sleepy backwater of less than 700 people to a thriving territory of more than 20,000 residents. Montana grew a lot over those thirty years in the 19th century and you’ll be in on all the details.

    Learn about Indians and the priests they sought; road builders and the hardships they endured; gold prospectors and the life they led; and politicians and the territory they created.

    Like the first volume in this Montana history series, Tribes and Trappers, this second volume also takes a biographical approach. Montana’s history is told through the stories of the people who lived here, and from those stories we’re better able to understand how the state came to be what it is today.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGreg Strandberg
    Release dateSep 23, 2013
    ISBN9781301127733
    Priests and Prospectors: A History of Montana, Volume II: Montana History Series, #2
    Author

    Greg Strandberg

    Greg Strandberg was born and raised in Helena, Montana. He graduated from the University of Montana in 2008 with a BA in History.When the American economy began to collapse Greg quickly moved to China, where he became a slave for the English language industry. After five years of that nonsense he returned to Montana in June, 2013.When not writing his blogs, novels, or web content for others, Greg enjoys reading, hiking, biking, and spending time with his wife and young son.

    Read more from Greg Strandberg

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      Book preview

      Priests and Prospectors - Greg Strandberg

      Introduction

      Montana in 1840 was a very quiet place. Indians roamed about largely as they wished, for there were few white men around. The whites that were in the area were trying to figure out what to do. The fur trade was ending and with it a large part of the economy of Montana at that time. If people wanted to stay they’d have to find new ways of making money.

      Historian K. Ross Toole put it this way in Montana: An Uncommon Land:

      Except for missionary activity and an insignificant fur and robe trade, Montana was somnolent for two decades – the forties and fifties. The white man had altered the face of the country not at all. He had merely started the Indian on the long and bitter trail toward his ultimate captivity on the reservations. There was a pause of twenty years, during which the wealth of the land lay hidden by the land’s own formidable ramparts. (p 63)

      ––––––––

      The Indians, at least those in the western portion of Montana, were actually seeking white men. Beginning in the late 1830s the Flathead Indians began sending out delegations to St. Louis, requesting that a priest be sent to them. Their wish was eventually granted and Montana saw its first settlement as a result.

      With more of the West opening up it was clear that Montana would have to as well. Work started on a road through the state, one designed primarily for the military, although it was only ever used in that capacity once. The Mullan Road would actually be a greater help to the prospectors that began flocking to Montana in the 1860s.

      And that’s when Montana’s history really takes off. A few large discoveries in the rocky gulches and narrow creeks of the area gave rise to a gold rush, and Montana became a territory. Government was established, often against the people’s wishes, and interests clashed between federal and state authority.

      This book follows Montana’s course from the years 1840 to 1870. Before the gold rushes of 1862-3 there had been fewer than 700 people in Montana. By the time the 1870 census was conducted there were over 18,000 white men, nearly 2,000 Chinese, and almost 200 African Americans. The Bureau of Indian Affairs calculated that there were 19,300 Indians living in the whole territory. The largest county was Lewis and Clark with 5,040 people, most of them residing in the most populated city in the territory, Helena, which had just over 3,100 people.

      Montana changed a lot over those three decades, and discovering what occurred then can give us a greater insight into what’s happening in the state now. Montana’s history is rich and I hope you’ll enjoy this telling of it. You don’t need to read the first volume of this history, Tribes and Trappers, to enjoy this one, although it certainly wouldn’t hurt. The third volume, Braves and Businessmen, is also available and an excerpt can be found at the end of this book. Montana’s journey into the 20th-century begins with the fourth volume, Hustlers and Homesteaders.

      Part I – The 1840s

      Montana was an empty place in the 1840s. Indians made up the majority of the population, and what whites there were primarily kept to the mountains, rivers, or fur trading posts.

      When the Jesuit priests began to arrive the white population notched up a fraction, but not by much. For most of the decade Montana would remain a sleepy and backwater place.

      The Flathead Indians Seek God

      The year 1841 was a very dynamic year in history. On January 26th the British occupied Hong Kong, beginning 156 years of rule there. On April 4th President William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia while in office, and just a month after being elected – the first American president to do so. And on September 24th Father Pierre-Jean De Smet arrived in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley to start what would become the state’s first permanent settlement.

      The fur trade was over by then, having come to an end the previous year when fashion tastes in Europe changed from fur to silk. That change spelled the end for the far-ranging mountain men that roamed through the mountains and forests of the state, but who never created any permanent presence.

      Some of the Indians in the area were accepting of the white man’s presence, others not so much. One of those that wanted a greater white presence was the Salish tribe, or Flathead Indians of western Montana. It was due to their insistence on having religion, and the white protection that went with it, that Montana got its first permanent cattle, crops, and churches, and saw its whole history change in the process.

      The Quest for a Black Robe

      The Iroquois Indians were the first to tell the Flathead Indians of the Black Robes. The Flathead were immediately transfixed, for they wanted all the power and praise of the white man’s god just as much as he did. But there were ulterior motives for the Flatheads wanting the Black Robes to come. They believed firmly that if they adopted the white man’s beliefs they would be saved from their enemies, particularly the increasingly hostile Blackfeet to the east.

      It was the Blackfeet, after all, that had driven the plains tribe up into the mountains in the first place, and as the whites continued to push west the Flatheads were fearful that they’d be pushed further by the Blackfeet. Baptisms and hymns would protect them from their enemies’ bullets they felt, and if that meant converting to a foreign religion, then so be it.

      Chief Tjolzhitsay, more commonly known as Big Face, sent out a delegation to St. Louis right away, knowing that there were Black Robes there that could help them. If they would only listen they could convince some of them to come back with them and spread the word of God to their people.

      The Four Delegations

      Their first delegation in 1831 was unsuccessful, even though they met up with an earlier acquaintance, William Clark, who was at that time still the de facto head of Indian Affairs for the Louisiana Territory. His kind words and reassurances couldn’t convince the Catholics however, and the delegation was sent home empty-handed. They waited four years before trying again in 1835, but once more were rebuffed.

      Another delegation was sent in 1837, again through hostile enemy territory, and also without much luck. The whole group was killed by the Sioux Indians of the area, including the main person to so interest the Flatheads in Catholicism, Ignace la Mouse, or Big Ignace.

      Painting of St. Louis in 1840

      The Flatheads waited, biding there time, knowing that God would not forsake them. They tried again in 1839, for the final time, and their prayers were answered. They received the promise from Bishop Rosati that a Black Robe would be sent to them. They returned home and eagerly waited, a wait that would last another two years before deliverance finally came at last.

      Father Pierre-Jean De Smet Heeds the Call

      The final Flathead Indian delegation headed back to their home in the Bitterroot Valley with heavy hearts knowing they’d have to wait another year, possibly two, before they finally got their Black Robes. Still, their long wait would soon be over, for in St. Louis, 3,000 miles from their homes, was Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, who would be charged with accompanying them back to their lands to tend to their needs.

      A Belgian By Birth

      De Smet had been born in what is now Belgium in 1801 and moved to America in 1821, taking up Jesuit duties in Maryland. He eventually moved to Missouri where he became a full priest in 1827. His heath took a turn for the worse and he moved back to Belgium in 1833, not returning to Missouri again until 1837. He worked closely with the Potawatomi Indians in the Council Bluffs area and even created the first fully-detailed map of the Upper Missouri River.

      Pierre-Jean De Smet, c 1860-5

      Things weren’t going well with the Potawatomi, mainly due to the white’s influence on them. They had a strong desire for alcohol, something De Smet certainly didn’t approve of, and they soon began fighting amongst themselves. Sickness also befell them, and many began to die off. In February 1840 De Smet suddenly announced that things were at a serious juncture and that he’d personally travel to St. Louis to see them fixed.

      The Gateway to the West

      De Smet and his lone companion reached the city on February 20, nearly chilled to the bone from the icy conditions they’d been forced to endure. He met with Father Peter Verhaegen and was assured he’d be given the supplies he needed for Council Bluffs. De Smet questioned Verhaegen about the fate of the Flathead delegations, and whatever it was he said won the elderly priest over.

      Father Peter J. Verhaegen (date unknown)

      Verhaegen changed his mind and told De Smet he’d not be going back to Council Bluffs but instead into the Rocky Mountains for an initial meeting with the Flathead Indians residing there. His primary duty would be to ascertain what exactly the situation was and if a lasting mission would be possible in the area.

      It was agreed that De Smet would travel overland with members from the American Fur Company as far as their Green River rendezvous in Wyoming. Fifty men and wagons as well as sixty pack mules set out on April 1, quickly falling into a grueling pace of eighteen miles a day. The forty year-old De Smet developed a fever shortly after the voyage began and was forced to confine himself to the back of a wagon for most of the journey.

      The group’s first real encounter with the Plains Indians occurred near the Laramie River when they met a group of Northern Cheyenne. De Smet was invited in for a feast of dog meat, which he rather liked, and was encouraged when the Indians took fondly to his sermons on the Ten Commandments. His decision to travel West reaffirmed, the group set out once again, reaching the Green River by June 30, 1840.

      The Green River Rendezvous

      The group stayed on at the Green River for a few days to allow De Smet to rest, and he used the time to preach to the Shoshone and Ute tribes gathered there, as well as the fur trappers. By July 6 they were ready to set out once again and began the trip to Pierre’s Hole where the Flathead Indians were waiting for him.

      Green River in Wyoming

      By July 12 they’d reached their goal: a large encampment of 1,600 Indians, mainly Flathead, Nez Pearce, and Pend d’Oreille were waiting for them, many of whom had travelled up to 800 miles to greet him. Several hundred baptisms took place by De Smet’s own reckoning, including two chiefs, one of whom was Big Face. From that time on no other priest was referred to as Black Robe, just De Smet.

      The Indians needed to get to their favored buffalo hunting grounds so they broke camp and headed to the Beaverhead River near today’s Dillon, Montana. By August the Indians had gotten their fill of Buffalo and were ready to leave, as was De Smet. He decided to return to St. Louis before winter set in, and with a group of twenty Indian guides he set out on August 27, 1840.

      Back to St. Louis

      The group travelled back via the Yellowstone River and met up with a friendly band of Crow Indians for a few days. A couple days after leaving them they came across a whole Crow village of a thousand or more who had heard about the Black Robe and were interested in his stories of heaven and hell. De Smet regaled them and created another group of allies.

      Map of Yellowstone River

      The party eventually reached the American Fur Company’s trading post on the Rosebud River, called Fort Alexander, and from there headed to Fort Union, reaching it on September 20. He met many other tribes on the way, including the Arikaras, Blackfeet, and Mandans.

      The journey continued on to Council Bluffs, which they reached in December, and where De Smet was reunited with the Potawatomi and other Jesuits. Winter began to set in and the Missouri River froze the very next day. Undeterred, De Smet continued overland on horse and then by stage coach on December 14.

      He pulled into

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