The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-11-17
INDIANS WERE
H1R PLAYMATES

MTS. ELIZA SDdld1nS warren, I1o
second white child born in the north
west. who has lived in epic since her
birth at what is now Lapwai, Idaho.
! 70 years ago. has just returned 10
Spokane from the Nez Pierce settle
ment, where she passed TWO weeks
among Indians she knew In her child
hood At the home of her grandson,
B. j. Warren. 217 South Madelia St.
Mrs. Warren. who is a resident at
Lake Chelan, Wash, told of the stir
ring times in the early days in what
was then called "the Oregon coun.
| try"
Mrs. Warren is a type of the de-
termined woman, who assisted their
fathers and husbands to build up the
country in the face OF hardships and
dangers, She was raised among the
Indians, playing as a child with the
afterward notorious renegade, Chief
Joseph. OF the Nez PerceS. who gave
the late General o. l. Howard such
lively chase in 1871 She survived
the Whitman massacre in which Dr.
Marcus Whitman and thirteen of his
brave followers lost their lives and
later was ransomed from captivity by
the HudSon's Bay company. On her
recent visit To Lapwai. the first I'm 62
years, she found three Indians, now
aged and failing, with whom she play
ed when a little girl. The squaws re-
membered her after she gave her
maiden name and recalled some of
the early incidents.
My father. Harry H. Spalding, A
Presby terlan missionary, sent out
from New England, made the trip
across the plains and mountains with
DR.. Marcus Whitman in 1886, and set
tied in what is now Lapwai, Idaho"
said Mrs. Warren, DR. Whitman con-
unued the journey TO begin his mis-
sionary work among the Cayuse In
dians at a point where Walla Walla,
Wash, is now located. and for years
they were our nearest white neigh,
bors. The entire country was then
known as Oregon territory
Il was born in 1887 and lived at
LaDwai among the Nez Perces for
nine years, when | was taken to Dr.
Whitman'S TO go to school. | made
the trip with squaw, unaccompanied
by any white person The next year
| was taken by my father. who after
arranging for my care by DR. Whit
man and his wife. left me TO see to
some business in the Willamette val
ley, His leaving was the reason OF
his life being saved, for shortly after
my arrival tho Indians turned on DR..
Whitman and the little band of white
men at the post and massacred them
| saw the fourteen men killed and tha
woman and children, fifty-nine in
number, taken prisoners by the In-
I dlans.
I'VE were held captive for three
weeks and then the Hudson's Bay
company bought us, paying the In
dians in. trinkets, blankets. and other
articles TO the value OF Si00. Peter
S. Ogden. who was then factor of
the trading post at Vancouver. Wash,
was the man who so humanely res
cued us from our captivity and to
the best of my knowledge he was
never even thanked for IT. My father
was hunted by the Indians for six
days, but hid In the timber and so
escaped the death meted out to tho
others.
After the Whitman massacre in
1877 my father moved his family TO
the Willamette valley, as it had be-
come too dangerous 10 live AT l>apwai,
and We settled In that country per-
manently. Afterward / moved to
Lake Chelan. and this is my first Wis
II to Spokane in 81 years At that
timo IL was little more than a vii
lage
Il passed several weeks among the
Indians at Lapwai recently and was
struck by progress. 1t is something
wonderful. The men AT the Presby.
! terian mission founded by my father.
former resident of New Haven.
Conn, and Boston have built one of
the best churches in that section and
all of. them are leading Christian
lives. They have n bank and every
family has a deposit. The Indians
have devoted their attention 10 acri.
culture chiefly wheat growing, and
they are also doing some intensive
farming
1T may be OF interest to note that
that the Nez Perce Indians probably
were the first to practice IRRIGATION
In the Northwest, | have heard my
father talk about the method and 7
have letters written by him TO rela.
uves in New England In 1899. In
which he spoke OF their crude meth.
DDS OF supplying moisture TO the land
by artificial means. In some instances
the water was carried In earth fumes
while in others they stored the melt.
ed snow from the hills by building
dams. They were successful and rails
ed crops OF vegetables which would
do credit To any truck gardener"