The Flathead Indians, living on the Bitter Root river, now in the boundaries of Montana, sent four delegations to St. Louis to invite Catholic priests to live among them and teach them the Christian religion. The first delegation, four chiefs, arrived in St. Louis in 1831 or 1832, but no one understanding their language, and two of them dying, their mission was a failure. Three other delegations were sent, but two of them arriving at St. Louis, all the members of the other delegation being killed by the Sioux. This is a most interesting story and those who wish to pursue it will find all the facts related in "The Indians and Whites in the Northwest," by Rev. L. B. Palladino, S. J.
The application of the Flatheads for Catholic missionaries was elaborated by zealous Protestants who heard of it until it was made to appear as an appeal of these Indians to have the Bible brought to them, and persons were asked to volunteer as missionaries to carry the Gospel to them. In response, Revs. Jason and Daniel Lee, natives of Canada, and others were sent out by the Methodists in 1834. They passed the Flatheads by and established the Methodist mission in the valley of the Willamette. The American Board of Missions, of Boston, representing both Presbyterians and Congregationalists, sent out Rev. Samuel Parker and Dr. Marcus Whitman, in 1835. Whitman went as far as Green river and then returned for more missionaries; Parker also passed the Flatheads by, and located the mission among the Cayuses, at Wailatpu. The Cayuse Indians are evidently the same tribe that Washington Irving, in "Astoria," called the "Skinses," the "u" being mistaken for an "n." The name of the tribe has been given to a quality rather than breed of horses, an ordinary horse being termed a "Cayuse" throughout the mountain country.
While he was east Whitman married Miss Narcissa Prentice, and he and his wife, and the Rev. H. H. Spalding and his wife, went to Oregon the next year. Whitman locating at Wailatpu and Spalding at Lapwai, now in Idaho, among the Nez Perces. The American Board established two other missions in that country, which gave greater promise of success than those at Wailatpu and Lapwai. In 1842, the American Board abolished these two missions, consolidating them with the other missions. This was an unexpected change of policy, and evidently it greatly troubled both Whitman and Spalding. The fact of the discontinuance of these missions has been concealed by those who have sought to make it appear that Whitman's Journey was made wholly for the purpose of saving Oregon to the United States.
