jiooney] THE BEGINNING OF SMOHALLA 711 



believe that were the snow-crowned summits of Mount Rainier set apart as an Indian 

 reservation, white men would immediatelj commence jumping them. (Comr., 11.) 



JOSEPH AND THE NEZ PERCE WAR 



We first hear officially of Smohalla ami his people from A. I!. 

 Meacham, superintendent of Indian affairs in Oregon, who states, in 

 September, 1SV0, that — 



. . . One serious drawback [to the adoption of the white man's road] is the 

 existeuee among the Indians of Oregon of a. peculiar religion called Sraokeller or 

 Dreamers, tie' chief doctrine of which is that tin' nil man is again to rule the coun- 

 try, and this sometimes leada to rebellion against lawful authority. 



A few pages farther on we learn the nature of this rebellion: 



The next largest hand (nut on a reservation) is Smokeller's, at Priest rapids, 

 Washington territory. They also refused to obey my order to come in. made to them 

 during the month of February last, of which full report was made. 1 would also 

 recommend that they he removed to Umatilla by the military, t Comr., I '. ) 



Three months before this report Congress had passed a. bill appoint- 

 ing commissioners to negotiate with the, tribes of Umatilla reservation 

 "to ascertain upon what terms they would be willing to sell their lands 

 and remove elsewhere," and Meacham himself was the principal member 

 of this commission. | Comr., 75.) 



In 1872 Smohalla's followers along the Columbia were reported to 

 number 2,000, and his apostles were represented as constantly traveling 

 from one reservation to another to win over new converts to his teach- 

 ings. Repeated efforts had been made to induce them to go on the 

 reservations in eastern Oregon and Washington, but without success. 

 We are told now that — 



They have a new and peculiar religion, by the doctrines of which thej are taught 

 that a new god is coming to their rescue; that all the Indians who have died hereto- 

 fore, and who shall die hereafter, are to he resurrected ; that as they will then he 

 very numerous and powerful, they will be able to conquer the whites, recover their 

 lands, and live as free and unrestrained as their fathers lived in olden times. Their 

 model of a man is an Indian. They aspire to he Indians and nothing else. . . . 

 It is thought by those who know them best that they can not be made to go upon 

 their reservations without at least being intimidated by the presence of a military 

 force. I ( 'omr., 1 , . I 



We hear but little, more of Smohalla and his doctrines for several 

 years, until attention was again attracted to Indian affairs in the north, 

 west by the growing dissatisfaction which culminated in the Nez Peree 

 war of 1S77. The Xez Perces, especially those who acknowledged the 

 leadership of Chief Joseph, were largely under the influence of the 

 Dreamer prophets, and there was reason to believe that an uprising 

 inaugurated by so prominent a tribe would involve all the smaller tribes 

 in sympathy with the general Indian belief. As soon therefore as it 

 became evident that matters were approaching a crisis, a commission, of 

 which General O. O. Howard was chief, was appointed to make some, 

 peaceable arrangement with the so-called "renegades" on the upper 

 Columbia. The commissioners met Smohalla and his principal men 



