Reports of explorations and surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean: Vol. 1, Pt. 2

VOYAGE IN A CANOE FROM FORT OWEN TO VANCOUVER.'
Ambrose, and who live above Lake Pend d'Oreille. The Flatheads number about forty-five
lodges. These are not al[ inhabited by Flatheads, there being but very few pure Flatheads
left, the race having been almost exterminated by the Blackfeet. The mass of the nation now
consists of Kalispelms, Spokanes, Nez Perces, and Iroquois, who have come among them, together
with their descendants. Pierre Baptiste, the old Iroquois at Fort Owen, thinks that there are
about sixty lodges among the Flatheads, but says that many of them are only inhabited by old
women (widows) and their daughters. For the first two years the missionaries lived in skin
lodges, accompanying the natives on their periodical hunts and visits to their fishing-grounds, &c.
During this time they found it very hard to live. Their food consisted principally of camas roots
and dried berries, which at best contain but very little real nourishment. They raised some
wheat, which they boiled in the beard for fear of waste-parching some of the grains to make a
substitute for coffee. After this, they slowly, but steadily, year by year increased in welfare.
Each year added a small piece to their tillable ground. They then obtained pigs, poultry, cattle,
horses, agricultural implements, and tools. Their supplies of tools, seeds, groceries, clothing,
&c, are shipped direct from Europe to the Columbia river. There are two lay brethren attached
to the mission. One of these, Brother Francis, is a perfect jack of all trades. He is by turns
a carpenter, blacksmith, gunsmith, and tinman-in each of which he is a good workman. The
other, Brother Mageau, superintends the farming operations. They both worked hard in bringing
the mission to its present state of perfection, building successively a windmill, blacksmith and
carpenter's shops, barns, cow-sheds, &c., besides an excellent chapel, in addition to a large
dwelling-house of hewn timber for the missionaries. The church is quite large, and is tastefully
and even beautifully decorated. I was shown the handsomely-carved anid gilded altar, the
statue of "Our Mother," brazen crosses and rich bronzed fonts; work which, at sight, appears
so well executed as to lead one to suppose that they all must have been imported. But no; they
are the result of the patient labor and ingenuity of the devoted missionaries, and work which is
at the same time rich, substantial, and beautiful. Works of ornament are not their only deeds.
A grindstone, hewn out of the native rock, and moulded by the same hand which made the chisel
which wrought it; tin-ware, a blacksmith's shop bellows, ploughshares, bricks for their chimneys,
their own tobacco-pipes, turned with the lathe out of wood and lined with tin-all have been
mrade by their industry. In household economy they are not excelled. They make their own
soap, candles, vinegar, &c.; and it is both interesting and amusing to listen to the account of
their plans, shifts, and turns, in overcoming obstacles at their first attempts, their repeated failures,
and their final triumphs. The present condition of the mission is as follows: Buildings-the
house, a good, substantial, comfortable edifice; the chapel, a building sufficiently large to accommodate the whole Kalispelm nation; a small building is attached to the dwelling-house-it contains a couple of sleeping-roomis and a workshop, a blacksmith's shop, and a store-room for the
natives. These are all built of square or hewn timber. Besides these, there are a number of
smaller outbuildings, built of logs, for the accommodation of their horses and cattle during the
winter, and an excellent root-house. The mission farm consists of about one hundred and sixty
acres of cleared land. Wheat, (spring,) barley, onions, cabbages, parsnips, peas, beets, potatoes,
and carrots, are its principal products. The Indians are especially fond of carrots. Father
Hoecken says that if the children see carrots growing they must eat some. Says he, "I must
shut my eyes to the theft, because they cannot, cannot resist the temptation." Anything else than
carrots the little creatures respect. The Indians are very fond of peas and cabbage, but beets,
and particularly onions, they dislike. The other productions of the farm are cattle, hogs, poultry,
butter, and cheese. Around the mission buildings are the houses of the natives. These are built
of logs and hewn timber, and are sixteen in number. There are, also, quite a number of mat
and skin lodges. Although the tribe is emphatically a wandering tribe, yet the mission and its
vicinity is looked upon as headquarters. Until farms are cleared and properly cultivated by
these Indians, their wandering habits must necessarily continue. Their migrations do not
29.5."