Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1894-02-16
CHAPTER XIII.

first missionaries came to Dakota.
The party of Lewis and Clarke (1808-
81 were the first white men to explore
the, Missouri river to its mouth, and
the report of their expedition in 1914 was
doubtless the first information printed In
regard to this region.
Father DeSmet built st. Mary's mission
in the Bitter Root valley in 1872, and the
first effort of the Jesuits toward the a
gelization Of the Dacotah Indians was
probably c0incident with that date.
As Bismarck vas the first white town to
be built on the Upper Missouri, the history
OF the religious development of the north
west here must have its starting point.
Yet let it mot be forgotten that the
nation which preceded us had its super
stitions and its forms of worship, not
greatly unlike our own. The American
Indian is not an idolator. He worships no
visible god. His religion is more nearly
allied to Christianity than that Of any so
called heather nation in the world. His
s:Great Spirit synonymous with the white
mans God. His "happy hunting gro und"
corresponds to the heaven Of the true be-
leiver. Indeed, like many a white Chris
tian, he believes, not only in a future re-
ward for himself, but in a place of punish
ment for his enemies. He is moved only
by the mystic and invisible, and rejects all
tangible forms in his worship.
Living near to nature, he believes in the
souls Immortality, and is true to the sim
pie faith of his fathers that has come
down to him unchanged through MANY
generations of traditions.
It is a part of his religion to destroy his
enemies and to inflict upon them torture
and ignominious death. 1t is this belief,
so Numerically opposed to the teachings
of Christianity, instilled into his mind in
childhood, and to which he faithfully ad-
heres, that mars his moral nature and
renders him so terrible a foe. Yet his
vices are those of a barbarous people, and
in his native state, he is free from the
minor vices which characterize the white
Americans.
To the high credit of the tribal Indians,
be it said, there are no blasphemous words
in their language. In zone Of their dialects
is it possible to curse or swear. Profanity
is an unknown and impossible vice, and
reverence, an Unborn virtue in their simple
minds. But initiative to a high degree
they speedily learn the habits of the
whites, with whom they come in contact.
Let any of the wild tribes be encamped,
for a short time. near a military post, or an
Indian agency and they speedily adopt
many of the customs of civilization, and
sven the children learn to swear in very
good English.
Thus with reverent disposition and re-
ceptive mind, the wild Indian readily inn
hEoes the truths of Christianity, as he is
Susceptible of a high degree of religious
sentiment. The early Catholic missions
founded by the priests of that church, the
wild tribes Of this region were fruitful of
many converts. Nor were other denoml-
nations idle in this wide, but dangerous
field Of Christian effort. AS the Indians
were gathered into agencies, ana fed by the
government, competition md sometimes
contention arose among the various re-
sigous denominations in the east, for the
privilege of establishing missions among
them, under the protection of the govern
ment. At Fort Berthold the American
Missionary association, early started
a mission which was carried OH under
the auspices OF the Congregational church.
For nearly forty years some 1900 Indians
of The (three nations,) Arrickaree, Mandan,
and Minneterees, had been living at
Berthold and many Of them were regular
attendants at the mission church.
At the agency at Grand River, which
was afterward removed to Standing Rock,
or account of the Grand River agency
becoming deDuded of timber, were some
5000 Sioux. comprising the tribes OF the
upper YanktoDais, lower Yanktonias,
Onkpapa and Blackfeet, among whom a
prosperous mission had been maintained
BY. the Catholics under the supervision of
the. Right Rev. Bishop Marty, o. S. B.,
with Fathers Jerome and Stephan in
charge. "a handsome chapel and school
buildings were early erected here. Under
the same benign management were the
thousand and more Sioux Of the tribes of
the Sisseton, Wahpet0n and Cuthead Sioux
ct Devils Lake, who had a comfortable
chapel and school, taught by the Grey
Nuns Of Montreal. The Sisseton and Wah-
peton bands of Sioux at Sisseton agency,
and who numbered some 1900 souls, had
fine church buildings, under, charge OF the
Presbyterian denomination, and a congre-
cation with a membership of 1926.
Rev. DR.. S. R. Riggs was a missionary
among the Dakotas for forty years, and as
sisted by his son Rev. 7. L.Riggs, preached
in the Dakota tongue to these reclaimed
children of the forest. The word Wah-
petons, or properly, Wahpetonnans.
means "those who dwell in villages in the
woods" and Sissetons or S%isonnans. as il
was originally, jewellers in villages Of the
marsh"
Cheyenne River agency, where were
some 1000 Sioux Of the Blackfeet, Sans,
Arc and Minneconfoux tribes and the Two
Kettle Band Of Sioux, was the seat Of the
Protestant Episcopal mission. TheAmeri-
can Missionary association also maintained
2 mission and church at Peoria bottom,