iervation of the Same Name 



10,000 persons, probably many of them 

 from crowded cities in the East, and the 

 development of the lands will add sev- 

 eral millions of dollars annually to the 

 wealth production of the Inland Empire. 

 The reservation has an interesting 

 history, dating from the early '305, 

 when French-Canadian employes of 

 the Hudson Bay Company stirred up 

 among the untutored reds a desire for 

 the coming of "Black Robes," as the 

 missionaries were known in those days. 

 Fathers De Smet, Gregory, Mengarini, 

 and Nicholas Point, accompanied by 

 Brothers Specht, Huet, and Claessens, 

 came from St. Louis in 1841 and lived 

 among the Indians. They founded their 

 first mission in the Bitter Root Valley 

 in Montana near the site of the present 

 town of Stevensville, where they after- 

 ward erected a church and parish house, 

 avd cultivated the land. Several years 



later Father Joset joined the band of 

 workers, and the Coeur d'Alene mis- 

 sion was established. 



Father Joset became superior of the 

 Rocky Mountains mission, which, in 

 1907, was united with the California 

 mission. It is headed by Rev. Father 

 George de la Motte, of Spokane, whose 

 jurisdiction now embraces the states of 

 California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho. 

 Montana, \Yyoming, the Dakotas and 

 southern Alaska, an area of 900,000 

 square miles. 



In the early days some of the In- 

 dians, then in their prime, were looked 

 upon as "medicine men," endowed with 

 supernatural power, ami, consequently, 

 of great influence among their fellows. 

 When the priests began their work they 

 condemned that superstition, and the 

 medicine men gradually lost their power 

 and influence. Old and young to-day 



465 



