Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1922-09-21

IroQuois Confederacy and set then
running home to the Mohawk valley of New York
This was in 1909. two years after the founding OF
jamestown, eleven years before the landing of the
Pilgrims and eighty years before the beginning OF
the armed clash between the French and English
for the possession of America.
1t is a far cry from 1903 to 1922; from New
York to Montana; from Iroquois to Flatheads
Just the same, 1t was Champlain who set the feet
OF Marcus Whitman and Father Pierre-Jean De
Smet, s. j., on the Oregon Trail two centuries
later. Marcus Whitman. Presbyterian missionary.
patriot, statesman and martyr, saved Oregon and
the Pacific Northwest for the United States. Fa-
Their De Smet, greatest and most practical mission
airy who ever labored among the American In
dams, dotted the far Northwest with religious
and educational establishments, kept many a
savage tribe from the warpath and served well
the government of his adopted land. The history
OF the American Northwest cannot be told without
Whitman and De Smet-both OF whom Champlain
started over the Oregon Trail to everlasting fame.
And here is the story In brief, with It's fascinating
of cause and effect:
The Iroquois Confederacy. because of Cham
plains attack. swore undying enmity to the
French The Indians of this unique confederacy-
hohawks, Cayugas, Onondagas, Senecas, OneIdas
and Tuscaroras-by the time the French and Brit.
ish came to grips in 1889, were dictatorial over.
lords of all the tribes from Hudson's bay to the
Cherokee frontier of the Carolinas and from the
Connecticut to the Mississippi. Their geograph-
ical location and influence gave them the balance
of power between the French and the British.
They were a big factor In the several wars which
finally resulted In the expulsion of the French
after the capture Of Quebec by Wolfe In 1853.
In the Revolution all the IroQuois kept on siding
with the British. except the Oneidns and part of
the Tuscaroras- They laid waste the American
frontier. Sullivan led an American punitive expe-
dition and destroyed their homes, crops and or
chards The outcome of the Revolution drove the
four hostile. tribes to Canada.
In Canada many of the exiled Iroquois were
Christianized by Jesuit missionaries. whose prin-
cipal work In America had been In New France
and the French possessions.
In 1916 a party of "a Iroquois left the Roman
Catholic mission Of Caughnawaga, Canada. on rhe
ST. Lawrence and struck out across the Mississippi
valley. They ended up among the F1nthexds OF
the Bitter Root valley. These Iroquois were led
by ~Ignatius La Mousse fOld Ignace), who achieved
4 dominating influence among the Flatheads
taught them the rites OF the Roman Catholic re-
fgion and created a tribal desire for the presence
" Blackrobes fJesuit missionares) which resulted
n a decision In 1880 TO SEND a delegation to the
white mans country TO ask for them
Here IA is profitable to glance at the chronology
this part Of the West. which was Just beginning
o get acquainted with the white man ST. Louis
yas founded In 1768- The Lewis and Clark erpe-
dtion (I8046) had passed through their country.
ohm Golfer had discovered the Yellowstone Tn
6O7. only to have IT r1diculed az an imposgibility
nd dubbed golfers He'll" Astoria Ind been
ssabIished In 1919. 0en- William H. ASHLEY and hts
Of the Rocky Mountain Fur company,
nth headquarters IT 81. Louis. had begun to use
Ae 0rexou Trail soon after 1917 ON thsir trips TO