CHAPTER XVIII. FATHER PETER DE SMET. HIS ARRIVAL IN WYOMING AND PASSAGE UP THE NORTH PLATTE AND SWEETWATER-THE FLATHEADS MEET HIM AT GREEN RIVER-WONDERFUL INTEREST SHOWN BY THE INDIANS IN THIS PRIEST-HE TELLS OF HIS EXPERIENCES AND FUTURE LABORS-MANY VISITS TO WYOMING-INCIDENT AMONG THE CROWS-SUPPOSED KNOWLEDGE OF GOLD IN THE BIG HORN MOUNTAINS--HIS DEATH AT ST. LOUIS-WHAT IS THOUGHT OF FATHER DE SMET IN WYOMING. In the regular order of progress of the missionaries through Wyoming came Father Peter De Smet. He arrived six years later than Lee and five years later than Parker and Whitman, but he was no less worthy of the cause of religion. I am glad that I have been fortunate enough to procure a portrait of this remarkable man. A study of the lines of character to be found in his face will to some extent reveal his strength and courage. See portrait in this volume. With the contentions of the Protestants and Catholics regarding the call by the Flathead Indians I have nothing to do. I will simply tell the story of the arrival of Father De Smet and his labors in what is now the State of Wyoming. This good priest was born in Termonde, Belgium, on January 31, 1801. At an early age he entered the Society of Jesus and in due time was sent to America to work in the missionary field. He served in Missouri and Kansas for some time, but his health giving way he returned to his native land. In the year 1837 he again came to this country and on April 5, 1840, left St. Louis for the west, joining at Westport the annual expedition of the American Fur Company when it was ready to depart for the Rocky Mountains. In this expedition were thirty trappers and an Iroquois Indian named Ignace. Father De Smet was in the special care of this Indian, who had promised to conduct him to the Flathead tribe. Peter, another Iroquois, had departed for the west some months before and had carried the news to the Flatheads that the "Black Robe" would be at Green River in the spring, accompanied by Ignace. The Flatheads were camped that season on Eight Mile Creek, Bitter Root Valley. The chief, when the time came for the arrival of the train from Westport, detailed ten of his trusted warriors to meet the man of God and bring him to camp, and at the same time announced that he with the whole tribe would follow on. On June 30th the caravan with which Father De Smet was traveling reached Green River, and here the meeting between the Flathead warriors and "Black Robe" took place. This was on Tuesday, and Father De Smet spent the balance of the week visiting among the Indian traders and trappers, of which there were great numbers at the rendezvous that season. Here, on the following Sunday, July 5, Father De Smet celebrated mass before a motley, yet most respectful, crowd of Indians, whites, fur traders, hunters and trappers. The altar was erected on a little elevation on the prairie and was decorated with boughs and garlands of wild flowers. The temple was the most magnificent of God's own making, having for its vault the azure sky and for space and floor the vast, boundless expanse of wilderness. The spot was afterward known and pointed out by the Indians as "The Prairie of the Mass." On the following day Father De Smet bade adieu to his traveling companions of the plains, and with his Indian escort started northward towards the headwaters of the Snake River. Some eight days' journey through the mountain defiles brought them to the main body of the Flatheads. They were encamped in the Pierre Hole Valley, on the line that separates east Idaho from Wyoming, south of Pleasant Valley, having come that far, a distance of some 800 miles, to meet the priest. Their number had been increased from the start, and on the road by detached bands of other tribes-Nez Perces, Pend d'Oreilles and Kalispels, numbering, all told, some 1,600 souls. His entrance into the camp was a real triumph, in which all, men, women and children, took part. In the volume, "Indians and Whites of the Northwest," I find the following items regarding the journey of this remarkable missionary: "Immediately the whole village was in commotion,' wrote Father De Smet to his friend, Father Barbelin, 'men, women and children all came to meet me and shake hands, and I was conducted in triumph to the lodge of the great chief, who had the appearance of a patriarch.' "Surrounded by the principal men of the two tribes and their warriors, the great chief, whose name was The Big Face, thus addressed Father De Smet: ""This day the Great Spirit has accomplished our wishes and our hearts are swelled with joy. Our desire to be instructed was so great that three times had we deputed our people to the Great Black Robe in St. Louis to obtain priests. Now, Father, speak, and we will comply with all that you will tell us. Show us the way we have to go to the home of the Great Spirit.' 'Then,' says Father De Sinet, he resigned his authority to me, but I replied that he mistook the object of my coming among them; that I had no other object in view but the salvation of their souls and that they were to remain as they were until circumstances should allow them to settle in a permanent spot.' "After arranging on the hours proper for prayers and instructions, one of the chiefs brought Father De Smet a little bell, with which he might give the sign and call them together. The same evening,' continues Father De Smet, 'about 2,000 persons were assembled before my lodge to recite night prayers in common. The prayers having been said, a solemn canticle of praise, of their own composition, was sung by these children of the mountains to the Author of their being. It would be impossible for me,' he adds 'to describe the emotions I felt at this moment. I wept for and admired the wonderful ways of that kind Providence, which, in His infinite mercy, had deigned to depute me to these poor people, to announce to them the glad tidings of salvation.' "Soon after the whole camp was on the move up Henry's Fork of the Snake River to Henry's Lake, its source. Here Father De Smet, July 23rd, ascended one of the peaks on top of the main range and engraved on a soft stone the following inscription: 'Sanctus Ignatius Patronus Monti um, die 23 Julii, 1840.' And here also, his soul brimful of emotion at the inspiring solemnity and grandeur of the scene before him, broke forth in the following rhyme, which is transcribed from his diary: "Ye Rockies hail! majestic mounts! Of future bliss the favored shrine! For you God's Heart of gifts Divine "Moving thence a short distance, they crossed what is now the Idaho line and camped in Montana, first at the headwaters of Beaverhead River, not far from Red Rock Lake; then along the banks of the same river and in the Big Hole Basin; finally on Jefferson Island, at the lower end of the Boulder Valley, near the three forks of the Missouri. Thus, the bank of the Beaverhead-Jefferson River is the spot where Christianity was first preached in Montana. "Father De Smet's missionary labors began with the day of his arrival, and never were there more docile pupils than these poor children of the forest. In the comparatively short time he was with them, he prepared several hundred of them for baptism and instructed about 1,000 others. "The following is a copy of a letter addressed by Father De Smet from his field of missionary labors to the Very Rev. F. N. Blanchet, V. G., (afterwards the first Archbishop of Portland, Oregon) who had crossed the Rocky Mountains two years previous and was at this time evangelizing the French Canadians and Indians in Oregon, near the coast: "Fork of Jefferson River, August 10, 1840. "Very Reverend Sir: Your Reverence will be glad to learn that Mgr. Rosati, Bishop of St. Louis, in concert with my provincial superior of the Society of Jesus in Missouri, and in compliance with the desires often repeated of the Flatheads, Pend d'Oreilles and a great number of Nez Perces, has sent me to the Rocky Mountains to visit these missions. I have found the two first in the most desirable disposition, well resolved to stand by the true children of Jesus Christ. The few weeks I had the happiness to pass among them have been the happiest of my life and give me the firm hope, with the grace of God, to see soon in this country, so long forsaken, the fervor of the first Christians. Since I am among them I have three, four and five instructions daily. They cannot be tired; all come to my lodge at the first ringing of the bell. They are anxious to lose none of my words relating to these instructions on these heavenly subjects, and if I had the strength to speak to them, they would will. ingly listen to me whole days and nights. I have baptized about 200 of their little children and I expect to baptize in a short time 150 adults.' "This letter was sent through Indians and Hudson Bay Company men to Colville, and thence brought to St. Paul, Oregon, and handed to the Very Rev. F. N. Blanchet by his missionary companion, Rev. Modest Demers. "After two months of constant missionary work, Father De Smet bade farewell to his newly converted children of the mountains, with the promise to return in the spring with other black robes. "From the Gallatin Valley, where he parted with the main body of the tribe August 27th, he now crossed over to the Yellowstone country, being escorted for a considerable distance by a number of Flathead warriors. His course lay through the land of the Crows, Blackfeet, Gros Ventres, Assiniboines and the Sioux, all hostile to the Flatheads and their friends. "Passing an Assiniboine party in safety, he and his companions were surrounded by a fierce war party of Blackfeet. The long black gown of the missionary, the crucifix which glittered on his bosom whenever he traveled through the Indian country, arrested the eyes of the Blackfeet chief. 'Who art thou?" asked he. 'He is a Black Robe,' said Father De Smet's companion, 'the man who speaks to the Great Spirit.' In a moment all was changed. Invited to eat with the missionary, the chief showed still greater respect when he saw him address the Great Spirit before the frugal meal. This ended, twelve Indians stretched a buffalo robe before the Father, with motions indicating their wish that he should be seated upon it. Supposing it was intended for a mat, he did so; but they raised it aloft, and so bore him in triumph to their village. There, too, he was received and treated with every honor. 'It is the happiest day of my life,' said the chief. 'It is the first time that we see among us the Black Robe, the man who speaks to the Great Spirit. These are the braves of my tribe. I have brought thee here that the memory of thy presence may be forever engraved on their memories.' "Father De Smet arrived in St. Louis on the eve of the new year, and his safe return sent a thrill of joy through the souls of his brethren. On hearing from him of the good dispositions of the Flatheads, of the large and ripe field that |