The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-04-25
BISHOP OF sELKIRK.
REV. DR.. soMPAs AND HIS SEE IN
THE kLONDIkE.

Possibly the poorest see in the world,
yet one that includes within its exten.
slve boundaries the richest known gold
field, Is the diocese Of Selkirk of the
church of England in the Klondike
region. The see extends over 400. 900
square miles of desolate. frozen will
derness, between the remote Arctic
ocean, the Alaskan boundary, the Rocky
mountains and the northern boundary
OF British Columbia. 1t is supported by
the English Missionary society, which
contributes %, 500 this year, and the
Colonial and Continental Church So
ciety, which gives $500. Voluntary
contributions form a precarious aux
aiiary source Of income, but the aggre-
gate OF the bishoprio's revenues will
hardly exceed IS, 900 this year. Out of
this sum must be paid the salaries of
the bishop, who is the Right Rev. Will
liam Carpenter Bompas, senior bishop
In the Canadian Dominion after the
archbishops, one archdeacon, five other
clergymen, one schoolmaster, one school
mistress and nine native cateohists, and
provision must also be made for the
maintenance of the five school churches
and mission houses in the see.
The bishop is stationed at Forty Mile
creek, and the second English mission,
the only other of the kind in the do
cese, is at Dawson City. The Indian
missions are located at Fort Yukon, in
American territory; at Buxton, on the
upper Yukon; at Klondike, near Fort
Reliance, and at Fort Selkirk, whence
the see takes its name, on the Pelly
river. The first mission was started at
Fort Yukon 80 years ago, but the sta
ton has only recently been restored
there from Rampant House, on Porcu-
pin river.
The bishop of Selkirk is remarkable
man, as has been enthusiastically stated
by joaquin Miller, who journeyed many
miles to see him at his ice chained home
at Forty Mile. For years his life has
been spent among the people of the wild
northwest. Though seldom heard of in
the United States previous to the rush
for gold, his achievements and success
In missionary work among the Indians
have been frequently discussed in Great
Britain, and much praise has been be-
slowed upon him for the tirelessness Of
his efforts and his undaunted courage in
assailing new fields He is native of
England.
AS a young man Bishop Bompas had
before him the easy life of the average
church of England clergyman, and was
a curate in several rural parishes for the
five years following his ordination as
deacon in 1859. But in 1865 he was
ordained a priest in London, in order to
be sent out to the Northwest Territories
by the Church Missionary society
which had been engaged in work ON the
Canadian frontier since 1928. The sig
| nal success which rewarded his endeav-
ors earned him promotion. 1t 1873 it
was decided to cut off all the sparsely
settled country northwest of Manitoba
into second diocese, to be known as
! the diocese of Athabasca, and he was
selected to be it's first lord bishop. His
conservation took place at st. Mary's
chapel, Lambeth palace, on May 4,
1874, during his first visit home. Arch
bishop TAFT of Canterbury was the con-
secrator,
Ten years afterward it was resolved
to create new diocese, that of Macken-
zie river, and to leave in the old see
such territory as had been settled grad
ually by Europeans. The bishop con-
cluded to remain with his Indians, his
Eskimos and his trappers and forthwith
departed to Mackenzie river leaving
Athabasca to secure q new Episcopal
head. There he found broad field in.
deed, at least from territorial point of
view, for the Mackenzie river see en-
braced an area of 500, 900 square miles.
a sweep equal in extent to all of the
states east of the Mississippi river. The
diocese included the immense valleys Of
the Mackenzie and upper Yukon rivers,
the one on the east, the other on the
west Of the Rocky mountains. His head
quarters were at Fort Simpson, ON the
Mackenzie river, some hundreds of miles
south of Great Bear lake. Travel
through his diocese meant something
more than q jaunt across country. The
long stretches intervening between head
quarters and remote points in the will
derness ever held out the possibility Of
lost trails and the almost certainty Of
death by starvation in consequence. But
the sturdy bishop, as Injured to peril as
the trappers among whom he was. ao-
cepted all chances to reach isolated In
dian homes or the lonely camps Of world
lost hunters.
In 1891 third change Of diocese &C.
Cured. This time the Yukon portion
west of the Rocky mountains was parti-
toned off from the Mackenzie river see,
and once more Bishop Bompas elected
to take diocese farther removed from
civilization. For awhile he established
himself at Baxton mission, since aban-
doned for more sheltered location at
Forty Mile. When he first took charge
of this diocese. the bishop had directly
in charge some 1900 natives, 100 of
whom were regular communicates. The
total population of the bishopric, Indi-
an, Eskimo and white, did not exceed
5000. A majority of the Indians has
been reached and brought under the in