906 



Missioisrs 



[b. a. fi. 



and seek asylum under United States 

 protection in Alaska, where they formed 

 a new settlement, known as New INIetla- 

 katla, on Annette id., 60 m. n. of their 

 former home. The island, which is 

 about 40 m. long by 3 m. wide, has been 

 reserved by Congress for their use, and 

 the work of improvement and education 

 is now progressing as before the removal, 

 the present poi)ulation being about 500. 



The first Episcopal bishop for British 

 Columbia and Vancouver id. was ap- 

 pointed in 1859. In 1861 the Rev. John B. 

 Good, sent out also by the London 

 society, arrived at Esquiinalt, near Vic- 

 toria, Vancouver id., to preacli alike to 

 whites and Indians. At a later period 

 his work was transferred to the Indians 

 of Thompson and lower Eraser rs., with 

 headquarters at St Paul's mission, Lytton. 

 He has translated a large part of the 

 liturgy into the Thompson River (Ntlak- 

 yapamuk) language, besides being the 

 author of a granunatic sketch and other 

 papers. In 1865 Kincolith mission was 

 established among the Ni.ska branch of 

 the Tsimshian, on Nass r., by Rev. R. A. 

 Doolan, and some years later another one 

 higher up on the !-ame stream. Kitwin- 

 gach station, on Skeena r., was estab- 

 lished about the same time. In 1871 

 Rev. Charles M. Tate took up his resi- 

 dence with the Nanaimo on Vancouver 

 id., laboring afterward with the Tsim- 

 shian, Bellabella, and Eraser r. tribes. 

 In 1876 Rev. W. H. CoUison began work 

 among the Ilaida at Masset, on the n. 

 end of the Queen Charlotte ids., and in 

 1878 Rev. A. J. Hall arrived among the 

 Kwakiutl at Ft Rupert, Vancouver id. 

 Other stations in the meantime had been 

 established throughout the s. part of the 

 province, chiefly under the auspices of 

 the London Church Missionary Society. 



The first Methodist (Wesleyan) work 

 for the Indians of British Columbia was 

 begun in 1863 at Nanaimo, Vancouver 

 id., by Rev. Thomas Crosby, who at once 

 applied himself to the study of the lan- 

 guage with such success that he was soon 

 able to preach in it. In 1874 he trans- 

 ferred his labor to the Tsimshian at Port 

 Simpson, on the border of Alaska, who 

 had ah-eady been predisposed to Chris- 

 tianity by the work at Metlakatla and by 

 visiting Indians from the S. Other sta- 

 tions were established on Nass r. (1877) 

 and at Kitamat in the Bellal)ella tribe. 

 Statistics show that the Methodist work 

 has been particularly successful along the 

 N. W. coast and in portions of Vancouver. 



There is no record of Presbyter utn mis- 

 sion work, but some 400 Indians are offi- 

 cially credited to that denomination along 

 the w. coast of Vancouver id. 



According to the Canadian Indian Re- 

 port for 1906 the Christian Indians of 



British Columbia are classified as follows: 

 Catholic, 11,270; Episcopal (Anglican), 

 4,364; Methodist, 3,285; Presbyterian, 

 427; all other, 147. 



Can.\d.\, Northwest (Athabasca, Mac- 

 kenzie, Yukon, North Keewatin, Erank- 

 lin). — The earliest missionaries of the great 

 Canadian Northwest, of which Mackenzie 

 r. is the central artery, w'ere the Catholic 

 priests of the Oblate order. The pioneer 

 may have been a Eather Grollier, men- 

 tioned as the "first martyr of apostle- 

 ship" in the Mackenzie district and bur- 

 ied at Ft Good Hope, almost under the 

 Arctic circle. In 1846 Eather Alexandre 

 Tache, afterward the distinguished arch- 

 bishop of Red River, arrived at Lac lie a 

 la Crosse, a Cree station, at the head of 

 Churchill r., Athabasca, and a few 

 months later crossed over the divide to 

 the Chipewyan tribe on Athabasca r. 

 Here he established St Raphael mission, 

 and for the next 7 years, with the excep- 

 tion of a visit to Europe, divided his time 

 between the two tribes. In 1847 or 1848 

 Eather Henry Earaud, afterward vicar of 

 the Mackenzie district, arrived among the 

 Chipewyan of Great Slave lake, with 

 whom and their congeners he continued 

 for 18 years. To him we owe a Bible 

 abridgment in the Chipewyan language. 

 In 1852 arrived Father Valentin Vegre- 

 ville, for more than 40 years missionary 

 to Cree, Assiniboin, and Chipewyan, all 

 of which languages he spoke fluently; 

 founder of the Chipewyan mi.^sion of St 

 Peter, on Caribou lake, Athabasca, 

 besides several others farther s. ; and 

 author of a manuscript grammar and 

 dictionary of the Cree language, another 

 of the Chii)ewyan language, and other 

 ethnologic and religious jiapers in manu- 

 script. In 18(i7 Father Lament Legoff ar- 

 rived at Caribou Lake mission, where he 

 was still stationed in 1892. He is best 

 known as the author of a grammar of the 

 Montagnais, or Chipewyan language, 

 published in 1889. 



By far the most noted of all the Oblate 

 missionaries of the great Northwest is 

 Eather Emile Petitot, acknowledged by 

 competent Canadian authority as "our 

 greatest scientific writer on the Indians 

 andEskimos" (MacLean). In20yearsof 

 labor, beginning in 1862, he covered the 

 whole territory from Winnipeg to the Arc- 

 tic ocean, frecjuently making journeys of 

 six weeks' length on snowshoes. He was 

 the first missionary to visit Great Bear 

 lake (1866), and the first missionary to the 

 Eskimo of the N. W., havnig visited them 

 in 1865 at the mouth of the Anderson, in 

 1868 at the mouth of the Mackenzie, and 

 twice later at the mr>uth of Peel r. In 

 1870 he crossed over into Alaska, and in 

 1878, compelled by illness, he returned ^ 

 to the S., making the journey of some 



