{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_56184/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_56184","id":"gutenberg_56184","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56184","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: History - American","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Van Orsdel, W. W. (William Wesley), 1848-1919"],"text":"BROTHER VAN\n\n\n\n\n  Illustration:   WILLIAM WESLEY VAN ORSDEL\n\n                  But the Northwest knows him only as Brother Van\n\n\n  \u250c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2510\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2502                      Transcriber\u2019s Notes                       \u2502\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2502  Punctuation has been standardized.                            \u2502\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2502  Characters in small caps have been replaced by all caps.      \u2502\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2502  Non-printable characteristics have been given the following   \u2502\n  \u2502  transliteration:                                              \u2502\n  \u2502      Italic text: --> _text_                                   \u2502\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2502  This book was written in a period when many words had         \u2502\n  \u2502  not become standardized in their spelling. Words may have     \u2502\n  \u2502  multiple spelling variations or inconsistent hyphenation in   \u2502\n  \u2502  the text. These have been left unchanged unless indicated     \u2502\n  \u2502  with a Transcriber\u2019s Note.                                    \u2502\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2502  The symbol \u2018\u2021\u2019 indicates the description in parenthesis has   \u2502\n  \u2502  been added to an illustration. This may be needed if there    \u2502\n  \u2502  is no caption or if the caption does not describe the image   \u2502\n  \u2502  adequately.                                                   \u2502\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2514\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2518\n\n\n\n\n                              BROTHER VAN\n\n\n                                  By\n\n                          STELLA W. BRUMMITT\n\n  Illustration:   (\u2021 Colophon)\n\n                               NEW YORK\n                     MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT\n                    OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA\n\n                          Copyright, 1919, by\n                     MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT\n                    OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA\n\n\n                         To the Best Known and\n                       Best Loved Man in Montana\n\n                              BROTHER VAN\n\n\n\n\n                               CONTENTS\n\n\n        Foreword\n\n     I  A Boy at Gettysburg\n\n    II  Explorers of a Continental Purchase\n\n   III  Westward\n\n    IV  A Sky Pilot\u2019s Race Up the Missouri\n\n     V  Brother Van\n\n    VI  A Brother to the Blackfoot\n\n   VII  The Gospel Team\n\n  VIII  Scouting for Uncle Sam\n\n    IX  New Trails\n\n     X  Great Heart with the Indians\n\n    XI  Brother Van and New Montana\n\n   XII  Seventy Years Young\n\n\n\n\n                             ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n   1  William Wesley Van Orsdel, known as \u201cBrother Van.\u201d\n\n   2  The Battle of Gettysburg.\n\n   3  A statue in honor of Sacajawea in Portland, Oregon.\n\n   4  Sitting Bull was dressed in full war regalia.\n\n   5  Historic Fort Benton, where Brother Van ate jerked buffalo\n      meat.\n\n   6  Brother Van visiting a Blackfeet medicine lodge.\n\n   7  The ceremony of adoption into the Blackfeet tribe.\n\n   8  Indians were terrifying settlers everywhere.\n\n   9  Brother Van\u2019s dispatch to the Helena _Herald_.\n\n  10  Chief Joseph, leader of the Nez Perc\u00e9s at Big Hole.\n\n  11  Dr. Thomas C. Iliff and Brother Van, who had many adventures\n      together.\n\n  12  Brother Van was \u201chail fellow well met\u201d with the people.\n\n  13  Brother Van shot the herd leader in the head.\n\n  14  The Van Orsdel Home for Nurses at Helena.\n\n  15  Great Heart with a Blackfoot brother.\n\n  16  A copper mine at Butte.\n\n\n\n\n                               FOREWORD\n\n\nGRATEFUL acknowledgment is hereby given for the interest and\nhelpfulness shown by many people in Montana while I was collecting\nmaterial for this book. To have known Brother Van better has been a\njoy, and to have met his beloved people \u201cout where the west begins\u201d\nhas been a privilege.\n\nThe readers of this biography owe much to the Rev. George Logan and to\nthe Rev. A. W. Hammer, both old-time friends of the pioneer missionary.\nFrom them have come stories and tales of adventure which could not have\nbeen forced from the boyishly modest preacher himself.\n\nThe story is sent out with the hope that through it some young people\nmay add a new name to their list of heroes.\n\n                                                    STELLA W. BRUMMITT.\n\n\n\n\n                               CHAPTER I\n\n                          A BOY AT GETTYSBURG\n\n\n\u201cNOW, boy, watch and you\u2019ll see one of the sights of the war! Our\ntroops are going to charge and take that battery.\u201d\n\nIt was the first day of the great battle of Gettysburg, July 1, 1863;\nand the Confederate cavalry leader, General Jenkins, at his post on a\nsheltered hillside, was pointing out to a rough-clad, barefoot boy from\na near-by farmhouse the movements of the troops on the opposite side.\n\nAs William Wesley Van Orsdel had heard at home of the battles in which\nhis ancestors had fought, he may have wondered if some time, he, too,\nwould march away to war. He had never dreamed that while he was still\na boy one of the most important battles in modern history would take\nplace in the quiet fields and on the wooded hills surrounding the\nlittle farm where he lived.\n\nThe opening of the battle found him ready to take his part whatever\nit might be, even though he could not be one of the fighters. He soon\nfound that there was no lack of opportunity to help. Fearlessly he went\nback and forth among the men of both the Northern and Southern armies,\ncarrying water to the wounded no matter what the color of the uniform\nthey wore, and relieving the distress of many a stricken soldier.\n\nIn the course of one of his errands of helpfulness he suddenly found\nhimself at the side of the dreaded Jenkins, whose cavalry raids had\nmade his name a terror to all of the farmers of the region because of\nthe heavy toll of horses, cattle, and grain which he took from them.\nJenkins\u2019 present orders were to guard the baggage train and hospital\nof the Confederate army commanded by General Ewell, and as he waited\nat his post he chatted easily with the bright and attractive farmer lad\nwho showed himself to be so interested in all the stirring events that\nwere going on around him.\n\nWilliam was a loyal Federal at heart and he felt decidedly\nuncomfortable in the presence of the Southerner as he followed the\nGeneral\u2019s explanation of what was happening on the adjacent hills. It\nwas a scene of furious struggle and of seemingly wild disorder upon\nwhich they looked. Now the Federals and now the men in gray appeared\nto have control. Then suddenly Jenkins shouted, \u201cNow, boy, watch, and\nyou\u2019ll see one of the sights of the war!\u201d\n\nA fresh and powerful force of Confederate troops was advancing steadily,\nand to his dismay William saw that the blue lines along Seminary Ridge\nwere giving way. It was one of the brilliant actions of the battle, the\ncharge of a fiery Southern general, Jubal Early, and the boy\u2019s heart\nsank as the Federal positions were overrun and their guns captured. He\ncould catch glimpses of the men in blue retreating through the streets\nof the little town of Gettysburg to the slopes of Cemetery Hill. He hid\nfrom the Confederate general his fear lest the attacking forces might\ndrive the Northerners even further back, but as the afternoon passed,\nthe fighting became less violent and when night fell Cemetery Hill was\nstill in possession of Federal troops.\n\nThe following two days were filled with thrilling adventures for the\nboy as he saw thousands of men struggling desperately in the valleys\nand on the hills where he knew every path and almost every tree. It\nseemed very strange to him that these familiar places\u2015\u2015Round Top,\nLittle Round Top, Seminary Ridge, and the peach orchard should suddenly\nbecome of such importance. From the gossip of the village, however, he\nknew in general what the Federal commanders had to do, and to many a\nscouting party he was able to give valuable information about trails,\nroads, and observation points.\n\nEverywhere there were wounded men crying for water and all through\nthe hot days William hurried from point to point, carrying help and\ncheer. Often he was in danger from the heavy shell fire, for Gettysburg\nsaw the greatest artillery engagement that had ever been known. Five\nhundred and sixty-nine tons of shells were hurled by the opposing\nbatteries in the course of three days. The boy had at one time a moment\nof breathless suspense when a cannon ball fell near him, but it failed\nto explode. Except for some powder marks on his face, he came through\nthose trying days without injury.\n\nWilliam\u2019s work was not done when he had spent the daylight hours in\ngoing among the wounded on the field. In the evening, when there was\na lull in the fighting, he went into the village carrying news of the\nbattle and helping friends whose homes were surrounded by the fury\nof the conflict. He was saddened by the death of his friend, Jennie\nWade, a girl of twenty, who had been killed by a chance shot that\ncame through the door of the house. She was the only resident of\nthe town killed during the whole battle. The home of another friend,\nJosephine Rogers, stood where the thickest of the fight came in the\nlast two days of the battle. William watched over the safety of this\neighteen-year-old girl, and was able to give assistance and comfort in\nthe hours of danger.\n\nOn the first day, as General Carroll of the Union forces fell back, he\nsaw the girl at her door and exclaimed, \u201cWhat are you doing here? This\nhouse is in the trail of the greatest battle of the war. Seek a place\nof safety!\u201d\n\n\u201cMother has gone, but I have bread in the oven. As soon as it is baked,\nI will go,\u201d replied Josephine.\n\nWhen she took the fragrant bread out of the oven, there were so many\nhungry soldiers that wanted it that she decided to bake more for the\nstruggling men. This work she continued for three days, and gave bread\nto the troops on both sides. Her home became a refuge for the wounded,\nand all the delicacies she could find were placed at the disposal of\nthe soldiers. On the last day of the battle the house was in the line\nof General Pickett\u2019s charge against the Union lines on Cemetery Hill.\nFrom the riddled house the bodies of seventeen men were taken, some in\nblue, some in gray; but the nurse and benefactress of both came through\nthe event without a scratch.\n\nWhen at last the Confederates were forced to withdraw, after having\nstruggled gallantly but in vain to drive the Union forces from Cemetery\nHill, and from the adjoining hills now famous in history\u2015\u2015Round Top\nand Little Round Top\u2015\u2015it was found that rarely if ever had armies\nsuffered such a high proportion of losses. Meade, the Federal commander,\nwent into the battle with eighty-two thousand men. He lost in killed,\nwounded, and missing twenty-three thousand. General Lee had moved on\nGettysburg with about seventy-three thousand men and his losses were\nas large as those of Meade if not larger.\n\n  Illustration:   Copyright, Brown Brothers.\n\n                  GENERAL HANCOCK AND HIS MEN NEAR ROUND TOP\n\n                  The Battle of Gettysburg was fought among the\n                  hills surrounding William Van Orsdel\u2019s home.\n\nThe scenes of daring and of strife in those exciting days of battle\nand the talks with the wounded men could not but make a deep impression\non such a thoughtful boy as William Van Orsdel. He saw what men were\ngiven power to accomplish when they held their lives as nothing in the\nstruggle for the things which they believed to be right. The memory of\nthose stirring days with the acts of sacrifice and of heroism which he\nhad witnessed made him long for the time when as a man he could engage\nin such deeds of action and of daring as those of the soldiers. With\nthe thoughtfulness which marked his quiet days on the farm and in the\ncountry school, he now began to look forward to some life task that\nwould call for hardship and adventure and would make his life of the\nlargest service to those in need.\n\nThere was a dauntlessness in William which was partly due to the\nfact that he had pioneer ancestry. His great-grandfather came over\nfrom Holland to New Jersey with the early settlers. His grandfather\nsettled in Pennsylvania about the time of the Revolution, and William\u2019s\nfather was born there. His mother came from England, and in the little\nfarmhouse near Gettysburg, William was born on March 20, 1848. Hard\nwork and heavy responsibilities fell to the boy early in life, for when\nhe was but fourteen years old, his father died. He then had the care\nof his mother and sister and the management of the farm. Two strenuous\nyears followed; then his mother died and the children were separated\nand taken into the homes of relatives.\n\nWilliam was now cared for by an aunt, whose farm was close to\nGettysburg. The change made it possible for him to attend a better\nschool and he was proud to become a student of Hunterstown Academy.\nEagerly did he grasp this opportunity to prepare himself to render the\ngreatest service in whatever life-work should open before him.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER II\n\n                  EXPLORERS OF A CONTINENTAL PURCHASE\n\n\nAS William pored over his big geography in the firelight of his\nPennsylvania home, that great stretch of territory vaguely called\nthe \u201cNorthwest\u201d filled his mind with interesting visions of possible\nadventures. Another name given to it by his elders, and by the books,\nwas the \u201cGreat American Desert,\u201d and the boy could never hear enough of\nthe tales that came out of it. He always wanted to learn more about the\nIndians, with their strange beliefs and customs, and about the great\nbrown herds of buffalo that roamed over the plains, and that were being\nslaughtered wantonly by white man and red man alike. He day-dreamed\nof Indian camps, of the long wagon-trains of venturesome pioneers, of\nswift, pony express riders, and of the hardy hunters of wild animals in\nthe mountains.\n\n\u201cWhen I am old enough, I am going west,\u201d said the boy to his friends.\n\u201cI shall come back to Pennsylvania to live, but I am going to see the\nland of Lewis and Clark first.\u201d\n\nThe adventures of these explorers had a great fascination for the\nschoolboys of that period even as they have at the present time. The\ngreat western land of which William dreamed became known to the world\nprincipally through the journeys of these daring men. William loved\nto hear about every one of their wonderful experiences. The story of\nthe Louisiana Purchase, by which most of these territories had been\nacquired by the United States, was a favorite, too. He liked especially\nto read about the day when the Louisiana Purchase had the unique\nexperience of flying three different flags in twenty-four hours. In\n1803 Spain ceded all this unexplored land to France. France sold it to\nthe United States. So in one day the Spanish flag came down and, for\nform\u2019s sake, the French flag was put up; and in turn that was lowered\nfor the flag that has floated over the Purchase ever since, the Stars\nand Stripes.\n\nPresident Jefferson made plans at once for the exploration of the new\ndomain, and chose as the leaders of the expedition two young Virginia\ncollege men of energy, ability, and high character. They were well\nfitted for the dangerous enterprise ahead. None but stout hearts could\nhave completed the venture, of which William Wesley Van Orsdel and\nthousands of other boys were to hear and read many years later. Lewis\nwas President Jefferson\u2019s secretary and a man whom he loved much.\nJefferson has left this fine appreciation of him: \u201cOf courage undaunted,\npossessing a firmness and perseverance of purpose which nothing but\nimpossibilities could divert from its direction, careful as a father of\nthose committed to his charge, yet steady in the maintenance of order\nand discipline, intimate with Indian character, customs and principles,\nhonest, disinterested, liberal, of sound understanding, and a fidelity\nto truth so scrupulous that whatever he should report would be as\ncertain as if seen by ourselves.\u201d\n\nThe maps showed few cities on the Missouri River when Lewis and Clark\nstarted on their expedition. St. Louis was then forty years old; it\ncontained less than two hundred houses and about two thousand people,\nnearly all of whom were French. These men who started up the Missouri\nin the fleet bearing the expedition, little dreamed that from the\nterritory which they were to explore there would be carved the great\nstates of Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota,\nMontana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon\u2015\u2015fertile and prosperous states\nfrom which would come the necessities to strengthen nations in need in\nthe great war more than a hundred years later. Not only wheat, sugar,\nand cattle, but timber, and metals to renew the world\u2019s shipping, were\nto come from those western fields, forests, and mines.\n\nThe fleet consisted of three craft; the largest was a keel-boat,\nfifty-five feet long, drawing three feet of water, carrying a sail, and\npropelled by twenty-two oars, eleven on each side. It had a forecastle\nand a cabin guarded by breastworks to protect against Indian attacks.\nThe other two were piroques. These were boats bound together side by\nside and floored over; one with seven oars, another with six oars, and\nboth carried sails.\n\nBesides Lewis and Clark, the party consisted of three sergeants\u2015\u2015Ordney,\nPryor, and Lloyd\u2015\u2015twenty-three privates, two interpreters, and a\nNegro servant. The interpreters were Charbonneau and his Indian wife,\nSacajawea. The Negro, whose name was York, was Clark\u2019s slave and\nbody servant. Many heroes were discovered in that company before it\nhad reached the waters of the Pacific. There is just one heroine,\nCharbonneau\u2019s wife, Sacajawea, or the Bird Woman. By birth she belonged\nto the Shoshone tribe. When a little girl she had been taken prisoner\nin a war between the Minnetarees and Shoshones and sold to a traveling\nFrenchman, who was a roving hunter and guide. He brought her up as a\nslave and afterward married her. Sacajawea guided the expedition and\nacted as interpreter, all the while giving her baby tender and watchful\ncare. She received no gift when the party disbanded, but to-day she\nlives in the grateful memory of the West as one of its real explorers\nand a true benefactress. In the city park in Portland there stands a\nstatue in honor of this brave Indian matron.\n\n  Illustration:   A STATUE IN HONOR OF SACAJAWEA IN THE CITY PARK,\n                  PORTLAND, OREGON\n\nThe romantic episode of the return of this woman guide to her own\ntribe was one of the strange incidents of the expedition. Over unknown\ntrails the daring scouts went in the untracked wilderness. It is\nhard to realize the suffering they endured from hunger, sickness, and\nother dangers. Their advance along the upper Missouri is of particular\ninterest here. One day Captain Lewis, who was traveling on foot in\norder to lighten the canoes, climbed a high cliff and there before his\nglad eyes lay the \u201cLand of the Shining Mountains,\u201d for such was the\nIndian name for the region which was afterward known as Montana. As\nthey pressed on, the roaring of water sounded in the distance, and soon\nthe great falls of the Missouri came into view. Here the river drops\nover four hundred feet in a ten-mile stretch. The map that Lewis and\nClark made of this section is so accurate that in 1892, when William\nVan Orsdel resided temporarily in the town of Great Falls, it was\nreproduced in facsimile with the modern improvements added. It was near\nthe falls that Sacajawea recognized the spot where she had been taken\nprisoner by the Minnetarees.\n\nJust at that point in their progress the expedition was in need of\nhorses for the journey across the mountains, and taking Sacajawea,\nCaptain Clark set out to find her people and to buy horses from them.\nCaptain Lewis went with another detachment on a different course. After\nmuch journeying he found Chief Cameahwait and gave him an American\nflag as an emblem of peace. The chief took them to a leathern lodge,\nsmoky and ancient, and seated them on green pine boughs covered with\nantelope and buffalo skins. A warrior in splendid attire kindled a fire\nin the center of the lodge; the chief produced a pipe and tobacco; the\nwarriors took off their moccasins, showing the white men that they were\nexpected to remove their shoes.\n\nWhen all was in readiness and the circle completed, the chief lit his\npipe. He then made a speech, and at its close he indicated the four\ncardinal points with the stem of his pipe, beginning with the east and\nending with the north. He handed the pipe to Lewis, who supposed that\nhe was to smoke, but the chief drew the pipe back three times, then\npointed to the heavens and to the center of the group. This concluded\nthe ceremony and Lewis was allowed to smoke.\n\nAfter the foregoing reception Lewis was permitted to tell how he and\nCaptain Clark had separated as they started to find Sacajawea\u2019s people,\nand how they had agreed to meet at Three Forks but had missed one\nanother. He explained his anxiety concerning the safety of his friend\nand his party and asked for help. Suddenly some Indians came in crying,\n\u201cWhite man! White man!\u201d Eagerly the group seated around the fire left\nthe lodge, as from its entrance they saw that Captain Clark\u2019s party\nwas drawing near. Sacajawea approached the watching Indians sucking her\nfingers, signifying that they were of her native tribe. As she advanced,\na woman darted to meet her and weeping and laughing alternately\nembraced her. It was then found that they had been childhood friends\nand now were meeting for the first time since the day on which the\nMinnetarees had taken Sacajawea captive.\n\nCaptain Lewis and Captain Clark embraced also in their joy at meeting,\nand the chief called for the ceremony of smoking. The warriors and the\nwhite men arranged themselves in a circle, and the pipe was about to be\nsmoked when Sacajawea was sent for to act as interpreter. She entered\nmodestly and shyly, but when her eyes sought the chief, she suddenly\nran to him weeping once more, for the big chief was her own brother,\nfrom whose side she had been snatched on the day of the tribal war.\n\nAfter this meeting Charbonneau and Sacajawea were taken to the camp of\nthe Shoshones. Anything that the white men wanted was easily secured\nnow. Fifty horses were bartered for and delivered to them, so the\nexpedition was able to proceed. Sacajawea was eager to go to the coast\nto see the \u201cbig water\u201d and the \u201cmonster fish,\u201d but the time of parting\nhad come. Charbonneau was paid five hundred dollars and thirty-three\ncents for two years\u2019 service, and the little Bird Woman, Sacajawea, was\ngiven nothing but the gratitude and respect of the white man.\n\nThe party proceeded with other guides and finished the hard journey\nthrough the mountains to the Columbia River and to the Pacific. They\nbrought back to the American public a romantic story of strange animals,\nof prairies, of rivers, of waterfalls, of mountains, and, above all, of\nIndians with their weird, barbaric customs, their strength, and their\neagerness to learn.\n\nAs a result of the travels of Lewis and Clark, and of other explorers\nand early settlers who followed them, a strong interest in the West\nsprang up among the people of the East. Many adventure-seeking boys\nleft homes of comfort in the older states during the next fifty years\nin search of larger opportunities in the opening West. But these\nglowing tales of Indian tribes, and of wealth easily gained, had\nanother effect besides that of luring high-spirited boys to seek\nnew fortunes beyond the Mississippi; there was also kindled a flame\nof missionary endeavor in the churches of the East. Some of the\ngreat chapters of American history are written about the men who gave\ntheir lives to the task of carrying the gospel to the Indians, and to\nestablishing churches in the new settlements scattered over almost half\na continent.\n\nGrowing up as he did in a Christian home, William Van Orsdel heard\nthe stories of the brave pioneers of the Cross as well as those of\nexplorers and hunters. It is not strange that as a young man he should\nrespond with enthusiasm to the calls that were being made throughout\nthe churches of the East for strong, energetic, and devoted men to\nenlist for Christian service in these new and difficult fields.\n\nWilliam had already proved the depth and earnestness of his Christian\nfaith. When a boy on the farm he had given his life fully into God\u2019s\nguidance and keeping. That he had caught the spirit of his Master he\nshowed to all about him by his many acts of neighborly service to those\nwho were in need. Although he had to work very hard on the farm even\nwhile attending school, he found time on Saturdays and Sundays to visit\nthe sick and the unfortunate and to help and encourage them. Thus the\nboy who had carried the news of the battle of Gettysburg to the village\npeople now became the bearer of news of another battle\u2015\u2015of the battle\nagainst all that is mean and unworthy in life\u2015\u2015and of the Great Captain\nof our salvation who gives the victory to those who in loyalty of heart\nplace themselves under his leadership. The people came to love his\nsimple telling of the old message and crowded the little churches and\nschoolhouses whenever he would speak to them. Soon they began to call\nhim the \u201cboy evangelist\u201d which was only the first of many honors that\nhis friends and neighbors were to pay him in the long years of useful\nservice that lay ahead.\n\nThus young manhood brought to William the firm conviction that in\nthe missionary service of his church in those distant regions of the\nNorthwest, where there was such need for young men who could be at once\nboth pioneers and Christian leaders, he would find the life-work which\nwould allow him to be of the largest service to his country and to his\nGod. Each year brought him a stronger sense of beckoning Indian hands.\nTo these people of the western plains and forests, he must go and\npreach; his decision was clear and firm. His small savings were far\nfrom sufficient to cover the cost of the long and expensive journey,\nfor he found that the money which he could scrape together would carry\nhim only as far as Champaign, Illinois. He had faith, however, that if\nhe made the start, the way would be opened for him to reach his final\ndestination in Montana. He knew how to do hard work; he could earn his\nfare for the remainder of the journey.\n\nSo William started on his eagerly anticipated travels. No mother was\nthere to give a farewell blessing, but he carried with him an abundance\nof good wishes from the people in the neighborhood of Gettysburg,\nfor they had known him since childhood and loved him for his helpful,\nfriendly ways, and for his sincere character. Tucked away in a safe\npocket was his most highly prized possession, an exhorter\u2019s license\ngranted him in recognition of his work as an evangelist, a high honor\nfor a boy of seventeen. Alone and unafraid he pressed on toward the\nwestern land of his dreams.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER III\n\n                               WESTWARD\n\n\nTHE first task that William Van Orsdel found, as he journeyed westward,\nwas at Oil City, Pennsylvania. He had a cousin at that place whom\nhe visited, and who urged him to remain and run an oil-pump. He was\noffered more money for the work weekly than the country lad had ever\nseen at one time; so in April of the year 1870, and while on his way\nto a thrilling career in the West, the boy became a day-laborer. At the\nend of the first week in his new occupation, William was surprised to\nlearn from the foreman that he was expected to run the pump on Sunday.\nWhen he protested against this use of the day of rest, he was told that\nit would be all right if he would hire a substitute.\n\n\u201cI\u2019d as soon do it myself as to cause another to work on the Lord\u2019s Day.\nI\u2019ll do neither,\u201d was the courageous reply.\n\nWilliam worked through the summer and into the autumn. When he\nannounced his intention of quitting he was offered an increase in\nwages, although he had never worked on Sunday as his co-workers had\ndone. Instead of earning on that day, he had used his time for the\norganization of a Sunday-school, and with true missionary spirit, had\ntalked of sacred things with his fellow workmen. Just before the time\nthat William was to leave the pumping job, the \u201cbush meetings\u201d were\nannounced. Woodmen would go into the forests and cut a road as they\nwent. When they reached a place fitted by nature for an auditorium, a\nrough pulpit would be erected, slab benches put in place, and all would\nbe in readiness for a meeting.\n\nThe first night came and a large crowd, which was both serious and\ncurious, gathered at the place of meeting, but no preacher arrived. The\nyoung oil-pumper who had organized the Sunday-school, and had talked\nwith thoughtless workmen, was sought for and urged to preach. Modestly\nhe assumed the role of evangelist to the waiting people, and three\npersons were led to know the saving power of God on that night.\n\nFor ten days the meetings continued; many people having their interest\nin religion rekindled, and many others made to feel the obligation\nof right living for the first time. From these inspiring gatherings\nWilliam Van Orsdel went to Walnut Bend, an old settlement where, with\nthe exception of funeral sermons, no religious services had been held\nfor six years. Here a great revival occurred which lasted three weeks,\nand forty citizens set to work to make their community life mean more\nfor faith and goodness than ever before.\n\nThen followed meetings for three weeks at Oleopolis, where twenty-five\npeople renewed their faith and endeavors. Meetings were held at Pit\nHole, and continued for as long a period, and with the same encouraging\nresult. The three places where successful meetings had been held were\nput into a circuit. One hundred and thirty-five members were received,\nand the Presiding Elder asked William to take the charge at a good\nsalary for those days, and it included the privilege of boarding around.\n\nThe school-teachers and preachers in former times accepted \u201cboarding\naround\u201d as one of the compensations of their calling. They recognized\nits social value, even though dreading some of its privations. It\nmeant that the homes of the community were opened in succession to\nthe itinerant, who usually spent a week in the shelter of each home,\nsharing its luxuries and difficulties as a member of the family. He was\nthen passed on to the next nearest neighbor until the round of homes\nhad been made, when the process was started all over again.\n\nBut the boy evangelist turned his back on the joys of boarding around,\nfor again came tidings from the West. The need of reinforcements for\nthe missionaries in the Oregon territory was related to him, and tales\nof the settlers\u2019 needs and of their privations. Stories reached him,\ntoo, of the brave freighters serving the people of the wilderness; so\nagain the call of the West made the days of the boy preacher restless.\nThat map of the Louisiana Purchase became very real in those days of\ndecision.\n\nMany years earlier Wilbur Fisk, who had been stirred by a strange story\nof the Indians, had made an appeal in the columns of _The Christian\nAdvocate_. The incident which had come to the knowledge of Wilbur Fisk\nwould stir the heart of any eager young Christian. In these days when\nall churches are giving to home missions as never before the story\nmust be retold, for it brought the beginning of Christian work in the\nsection where the quest was made.\n\nFour Indians garbed in their odd dress appeared on the streets of\nSt. Louis in the year 1832. All through the summer and fall they had\ntraveled, for they had come two thousand miles in search of the \u201cWhite\nMan\u2019s Book of Heaven,\u201d and to ask that teachers would be sent to Oregon.\nGeneral Clark, the distinguished explorer, was then superintendent\nof Indian affairs. He had charge of all Indians in the far West, with\nheadquarters at St. Louis. The Indians were received hospitably by\nGeneral Clark and cared for through the winter. He was a Roman Catholic\nand they attended the church services regularly. During their visit to\nSt. Louis two of the Indians died, and the other two decided to return\nto their people. A farewell banquet was given to these well-entertained\nguests and at which one of them made the following speech:\n\n\u201cI came to you over the trail of many moons from the setting sun. You\nwere the friends of my fathers, who have all gone the long way. I came\nwith an eye partly open for my people who sit in darkness. I go back\nwith both eyes closed. How can I go back blind to my blind people! I\nmade my way to you with strong arms through many enemies and strange\nlands that I might carry much back to them. I go back with both arms\nbroken and empty. Two fathers came with us. They were the braves of\nmany winters and wars. We leave them asleep here by your great water\nand wigwams. They were tried in many moons and their moccasins wore out.\n\n\u201cMy people sent me to get the white man\u2019s Book of Heaven. You took\nme to where they worship the Great Spirit with candles, but the book\nwas not there. You showed me the images of the Great Spirit and the\npictures of the good land beyond, but the book was not among them to\ntell us the way. I am going back the long trail to my people in the\ndark land. You make my feet heavy with gifts and my moccasins will grow\nold with carrying them and yet the book is not among them. When I tell\nmy poor blind people, after the more snow, in the Big Council that I\ndid not bring the book, no word will be spoken by our old men or by\nour young braves. One by one they will rise up and go out in silence.\nMy people will die in darkness and they will go a long path to other\nhunting grounds. No white man will go with them, and no white man\u2019s\nBook of Heaven will make the way plain. I have no more words.\u201d\n\nAmong the early missionaries, who became inspired by a knowledge of\nthe quest for the \u201cWhite Man\u2019s Book of Heaven,\u201d were Francis McCormick,\nknown as the \u201cman with the fist and the ax,\u201d and John Kobler, the\nfirst Methodist preacher north and west of the Ohio River. Another\nof these leaders was Thomas Hall Pearne, a young man of great culture.\nHe practically received his commission from Bishop Janes in 1851.\n\u201cGo to Oregon; live there; work there and die there for Jesus,\u201d said\nthe bishop. Young Pearne went west by way of Panama and landed in San\nFrancisco. William Taylor was then leading the religious forces of the\nsunset city, and Pearne preached in the streets of San Francisco for\nTaylor; then he sailed to the mouth of the Columbia River and finally\nreached Portland.\n\nOn the first Sabbath day the new missionary appeared in his wedding\nfinery, for he had brought a wife to share in his labors, and the\nstalwart pioneers looked askance at the silk hat, kid gloves, silk\nnecktie, and morocco shoes of the new preacher. \u201cYou do not look like\nthe fortieth cousin of a Methodist,\u201d said one of the men frankly. The\nyoung man asked to be given a hearing and preached with such spiritual\npower that the people gladly accepted him as their leader. Pearne\nerected the first Protestant house of worship on the Pacific coast\nfrom Cape Horn to the Straits of Juan de Fuca. When later this pioneer\nbecame presiding elder, his district included all of the United States\nfrom the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean, the total area being\n1,170,000 square miles, and it covered all that part now known as\nOregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, North and South Dakota. The\npopulation was 13,294 white people and 100,000 Indians.\n\nIt was toward this vast territory that William Van Orsdel was working\nhis way. He left Oil City with only enough money to carry him to\nChicago. He stopped at Champaign to see a relative, and then went to\nChicago, where he met with a man who made clear to him just what his\nfuture field was to be. This man was Chaplain McCabe, who was thrilling\nthousands by his lectures on the bright side of Libby Prison, and by\nhis singing of such songs as \u201cThe Sword of Bunker Hill.\u201d McCabe was\nsecretary of the Board of Church Extension of the Methodist Episcopal\nChurch, and had taken for his slogan, \u201cA church a day,\u201d as he sought\nfunds for the building of churches in the south and west. To this\nman William confided his dreams and desires, and leading him to the\nSouth Park Avenue Church, his new friend invited him to preach. The\nChaplain\u2019s keen eyes twinkled as he listened, and visions came to him\nof the churches which this youth would help him to build.\n\nFrom Chaplain McCabe William learned much of the work to be done in\nthe west. \u201cYou are on the right track, young man,\u201d he said. \u201cGo west to\nMontana, and help to build the kingdom in the western wilds.\u201d He backed\nhis advice with some money and added, \u201cYou will realize what Paul\nmeant when he rejoiced that he did not build on any man\u2019s foundation.\nYou will not find many foundations out there.\u201d William Van Orsdel did\nnot feel that he was yet justified in having aid from the Missionary\nSociety, but he accepted the money as a personal gift from his new\nfriend. He set out again on his journey for the unexplored land of his\ndreams.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER IV\n\n                  A SKY PILOT\u2019S RACE UP THE MISSOURI\n\n\nIT was a penniless but hopeful youth who came into Sioux City in the\nspring of 1872 and made a straight path to the Methodist parsonage.\nPastor Crozier was the minister who received the traveler, and who\nfound a congenial spirit in him. There was much work at hand, and under\nhis new friend\u2019s direction, William gave himself eagerly to new, and\nyet familiar tasks. Sunday-schools were organized in schoolhouses, and\nthe religious interest of the community was revived as the happy boy\nevangelist sang his songs and preached his earnest message. He was not\nidle for a day.\n\nEarly in June a minister named Bennett Mitchell returned from New York,\nwhere the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church had been\nheld, with the news that a Conference of North Iowa had been organized.\nMr. Mitchell had been appointed as its presiding elder and he offered\nVan Orsdel a charge in this new field.\n\n\u201cTake the night to consider it,\u201d he said. \u201cPray about it, and give me\nyour answer in the morning.\u201d\n\nIt was settled long before morning, for William had learned that the\nsame General Conference had formed a Rocky Mountain Conference to\nembrace the territories of Washington, Idaho, Montana, and a part of\nWyoming.\n\n\u201cThe line of duty is very clear to me. I must go to the mountains.\u201d\nSuch was the young pioneer\u2019s firm reply on the morrow.\n\nThat very day a boat was starting up the Missouri for the Northwest.\nThe captain was hastily sought and interviewed. The fare was found to\nbe one hundred dollars.\n\n\u201cI haven\u2019t that much money,\u201d was the missionary\u2019s frank reply to the\nstatement concerning the sum required.\n\n\u201cWell, I have no through passenger, so I\u2019ll take you for seventy-five.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019m sorry, but I haven\u2019t got it.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, what in the world are you going to Montana for?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, to sing and pray, and to encourage people to be good.\u201d\n\nThe captain eyed the would-be passenger wonderingly. \u201cWell, I have been\nrunning this boat for a good many years, but I have never known of a\nperson going to Montana for that purpose,\u201d he exclaimed. \u201cIf you will\nsing and preach for us, I\u2019ll take you for fifty dollars.\u201d\n\nThe embarrassed young man was forced to admit that he did not have even\nfive dollars; then he made a venture of faith.\n\n\u201cIf you will take me to Fort Benton, you will find fifty dollars\nwaiting for you here in care of Pastor Crozier when you return,\u201d he\nsaid.\n\nThe good-natured captain agreed. When the boat came into Sioux City\nagain many weeks later, he promptly received the fifty dollars. So much\nwas he impressed by the incident, that he sent the greater part of the\nmoney to Montana for the missionary\u2019s work\u2015\u2015to help \u201cencourage people\nto be good.\u201d The debt was paid in a curious manner. A group of friends\nback in the oil region of Pennsylvania had been following the western\njourney of the young missionary with deep interest but with no real\nknowledge of his exact circumstances. They realized, however, that some\nmoney would \u201ccome in handy,\u201d and without previous notice or arrangement\nhad forwarded to Pastor Crozier, at Sioux City, a sum which made it\npossible for him to keep the promise which the dauntless Van Orsdel had\nmade to the captain.\n\nIt was on June 12, 1872, that the boat, the _Far West_, started on its\ntwelve-hundred-mile trip up the Missouri River carrying the missionary\nto his new work. This proved to be a notable run, the quickest made\nby any boat to Fort Benton. The reason for the unusual speed was the\nfact that a rival boat, the _Nellie Peck_, had left Sioux City two days\nbefore, and the captain was eager to pass her. In spite of insufficient\nfuel, hostile Indians, and difficult channels, the _Far West_ came to\nFort Benton one hour before the _Nellie Peck_.\n\nOn the second day out from Sioux City the tenderfoot missionary on the\nboat saw a battle between hostile Indians on the banks of the river,\nand the question came to him, \u201cIf we are in hostile country so soon,\nwhat will it be when we get to Montana?\u201d\n\nComing to the Upper Missouri, they found that the woodchoppers had\nbeen either killed or driven away. No coal was used on the river boats\nin those days; so whenever fresh supplies of cut wood were not ready\nat the usual supply points, the boat roustabouts would rush into the\ncottonwood groves near the bank, chop down trees and carry the logs on\ndeck to be cut into lengths as the steamer proceeded. The pilot-house\nand other parts of the _Far West_ showed that the aim of the Indians\nwas far from perfect as they pursued the frantic workers, for the men\nescaped unhurt, while the boat was frequently struck by the shots of\nthe attacking party.\n\nAt one time when the boat was nearly out of wood a landing was made\nclose to a large cottonwood flat. The plank had scarcely touched the\nshore when from all directions there advanced parties of Sioux warriors\nin full war-regalia. Two braves with a great following came on board.\nOne of them was a splendid specimen of Indian manhood. He stood over\nsix feet high and wore a brilliant bead war-bonnet, decorated with many\neagle feathers; each feather represented a scalp taken in the terrible\nwarfare which these tribes practised. In one hand he held a tomahawk,\nand with the other grasped the folds of his gorgeous robe. It was a\ncritical moment. If these chiefs should be angered, the boat would be\nat the mercy of the band. The captain made gifts of pipes, beads, and\njewelry, and without showing too much anxiety, tactfully persuaded them\nto depart.\n\nWhen the Indians had taken their leave, the boat proceeded as far as it\ncould go with its scanty supply of wood. Again a stop was made for fuel,\nand as the roustabouts were loading it, a remarkable personage suddenly\nappeared. He was a tall, athletic, white man, with long black hair\nflung back on his shoulders from beneath a wide-brimmed hat. His suit\nwas of buckskin and he wore a cartridge belt, while on his arm there\nrested a fine rifle. As he came on board the vessel, the missionary\nwatched him wonderingly. It was his first meeting with a man who was to\nbecome world famous for his exploits in the far West, William F. Cody,\nknown more commonly as Buffalo Bill.\n\nThese are not the only names by which this interesting man was called\nin the course of his long and thrilling career among cowboys and\nIndians. First he was little Billy Cody, the western messenger; then\nWild Bill, the pony express rider, and as a grown man he was known as\nBill Cody, the wagon master. Finally, to the heart\u2019s delight of boys\nand girls the world over, he became Buffalo Bill. For many years before\nhis death in 1917, he was generally spoken of as Colonel William F.\nCody; but to the Indians he will always be their beloved \u201cPa-has-ka,\u201d\nor \u201cLong Hair.\u201d\n\nWhen Cody was told about the braves having boarded the boat dressed\nin full war-regalia, he marveled. \u201cThat was the band of Sitting\nBull and Rain-in-the-Face, two Sioux Indian chiefs,\u201d he exclaimed.\n\u201cThey have five hundred men with them and are out for a lark. It is\nmiraculous that you escaped, for you have in the boat just what they\nmost want\u2015\u2015food and ammunition.\u201d\n\n  Illustration:   Courtesy of the American Bureau of Ethnology.\n\n                  SITTING BULL WAS DRESSED IN FULL WAR REGALIA\n\nSitting Bull\u2019s life story has been the theme of many writers. This\ngreat warrior was a medicine-man, who preached of a happy day to come\nwhen the palefaces should all be wiped out, and the land which they\nhad occupied should be restored to the Indians. To this end he greatly\nincited his people to murder and devastation, but one thing must be\nremembered, Sitting Bull believed firmly that the Indians were unfairly\ntreated. He sternly declared, \u201cGod Almighty made me\u2015\u2015God Almighty\ndid not make me an agency Indian. I\u2019ll fight and die fighting before\nany white man can make me an agency Indian.\u201d And he did. He defied\nthe government up to the very moment of his death in 1890; and his\nresistance did not end until he fell pierced by the bullets of the\nsoldiers sent to take his person dead or alive.\n\nRain-in-the-Face was a warrior who had met all the tests of the\nexacting medicine-man, Sitting Bull. His breast had been slashed,\nand rawhide strips passed through it by which he was to hang until\nthe flesh gave way. Sitting Bull was not satisfied with the test and\nmaintained that the flesh had torn away too soon. Rain-in-the-Face\nthereupon demanded another trial, lest he spend the rest of his life\ndespised as a squaw. So the strips were passed through the muscles of\nhis back, and for two days he hung, taunting his torturers, jeering,\nand singing war songs. At last Sitting Bull was satisfied, and buffalo\nskulls were hung on the feet of the tortured brave so that the folds of\nflesh might tear away and release him. After that rather terrible test,\nhe was counted worthy of the title of warrior. Rain-in-the-Face died at\nStanding Rock Agency in 1905.\n\nThe voyage in the _Far West_ became more and more exciting as the boat\nproceeded. Indian camps came into view peopled so entirely by squaws\nand children, that it was evident that the men were out on hostile\nbusiness. Great herds of buffalo and numberless droves of deer and\nantelope were to be seen roaming on the prairie.\n\nYoung Van Orsdel was fascinated by the novelty of it all. His high\nspirits, his friendliness, and his willingness to help in every way\nmade him a general favorite, and he soon won the complete confidence\nof the captain and the roustabouts. He gave a hand at any odd job\nthat offered, singing as he worked, and daily living out his religion\nof happiness and trust. When the woodchoppers were at work, he would\nclimb to some high point where he could watch the wide prairie for the\napproach of Indians. In leisure moments as the boat forged ahead he\nsang for the crew, much to their enjoyment, for his voice was of fine\nquality and persuasive in tone. He became a fast friend of Jack, the\ncabin boy, for he helped him to wash the dishes and arrange the tables.\nMany were the intimate talks they had about their distant homes and\nfriends. As a result of this new friendship Jack became a Christian,\nand later abandoned the river to take up the varied life of a frontier\npreacher. So helpful was the missionary, that by the time the journey\ncame to its close, he was called the Sky Pilot of the expedition. He\nwas a friend to every one, from the captain to the lowest laborer.\n\nThe voyage contained one other interesting experience. At a landing\nnear Fort Benton, a typical plainsman clad entirely in buckskin boarded\nthe boat, saying, \u201cI can\u2019t stay in this place any longer. There are too\nmany hostile Indians.\u201d This was Jim Dexter, who became one of Montana\u2019s\ngreat landholders and one of its well-known pioneers. From the first\nmoment of meeting there sprang up a warm friendship between him and\nWilliam Van Orsdel. This tie grew stronger in the long years following,\nas in their different fields of effort they threw themselves into the\ntask of building a commonwealth in the wilderness.\n\n\n\n\n                               CHAPTER V\n\n                              BROTHER VAN\n\n\nABOUT seven o\u2019clock on the first day of July, 1872, a gloomy, clouded\nSunday morning, the _Far West_ drew up to the landing at Fort Benton\nand established the record for an up-river trip on the Missouri,\nseventeen days and twenty hours from Sioux City. That was an exciting\nSabbath day for the settlement. The _Nellie Peck_ arrived an hour later;\nwhile from St. Louis came the _Josephine_ after a sixty-days\u2019 trip.\n\nA number of ox-trains were waiting to take the incoming freight to\nthe towns and settlements beyond; some of these were many days distant.\nWagons drawn by mules and horses were crowded around the landing, eager\nfor what business might turn up. Cowboys, Indians, and soldiers from\nthe Fort mixed in the crowd, making the motley assembly which greeted\nour Sky Pilot as he stepped on shore. All the white families came from\nthe tiny shacks of the new town to join in the curious throng as it\nwelcomed this unusual stir in the monotony of frontier life.\n\nThe tenderfoot did not know the terror of \u201cgumbo,\u201d but as he made his\nway through the streets in the rain, he found the soil sticking to his\nshoes in such quantities as to make walking difficult. It was God\u2019s\nday, and in spite of the dismal weather, the missionary trudged through\nthe town seeking a place to hold services. He was told that he could\nuse the courthouse. This sounded encouraging and he turned toward the\nbuilding eagerly. Disappointment was awaiting him, for it was only an\nadobe structure, and the rain had washed holes in the roof and walls\nthrough which muddy streams of water were pouring.\n\nIn continuing his search for a place in which to hold worship, William\nlearned that a Roman Catholic priest, Father Van Gorp, was conducting\na service in a saloon near by. He sought him out and was received\ncordially. On hearing the desire of the newcomer, the priest assured\nhim that he could have the room as soon as his service was concluded,\nfor he intended to take passage on a boat which was to leave the Fort\nin a few hours.\n\nIt was at that afternoon meeting of his first day in Fort Benton\nthat William Van Orsdel received the name of Brother Van. There\nwas a frankness and kindness in the young man\u2019s manner toward these\nstrangers before him. The years of unselfish service for others, and\nhis conviction regarding the work he must do in the West had developed\na magnetic personality. The rough and hearty frontier people were keen\njudges of character. They saw at once in the stranger, who had come\namong them so naturally and courageously, a sincere, helpful spirit.\n\u201cBrother\u201d was just the word that described him. \u201cVan\u201d was as much of\nthat lengthy and dignified name of his as they felt that they could\ntake the trouble to say. So, with the good-natured bluntness of the\nWest, \u201cBrother Van\u201d he became. It now rarely occurs to any of his\nfriends and neighbors that he has any other name. They would probably\nassure you, if you were to raise the question with them, that he was\nchristened \u201cBrother Van.\u201d\n\nCrowded in the saloon on that afternoon were the steamboat officers,\nroustabouts, freighters, cowboys, Indians, and settlers, making a\nstrange audience for the young missionary\u2019s first Montana sermon. He\nwould talk for a while, and then, when the attention wavered, he would\nsing the songs that some of them had heard back East before they had\ncome under the hardening influences of the rough western life. Brother\nVan asked if they would like an evening service and received an eager\nrequest for one. The news of the arrival of this tenderfoot and of\nhis message and singing had traveled fast; so in the evening a larger\ncongregation gathered. Again he gave the message that many of them\nhad been missing in a long period of separation from church life, and\nagain hearts were stirred, as for the first time in years the uncertain\nvoices tried to follow the singing of the gospel songs which had been\nsung \u201cback home.\u201d\n\nThere is no written record of the sermons of that day; but the simple,\nstraightforward manner of the preacher made a lasting impression on\nthe hearts of that strange crowd. The missionary spirit of the zealous\nyouth so won the respect of the cowboys that they withheld from this\ntenderfoot the \u201cinitiation\u201d which they were accustomed to give to\nstrangers. Brother Van was a vigorous youth with a florid complexion\nand light hair. The simple directness of his manner and the good humor\nshowing in his blue eyes, so ready to twinkle with fun, gained fast\nfriends for him in the odd mixture of peoples.\n\nWhile the _Far West_ was in port, Captain Coulson extended the\nhospitality of the boat to his missionary passenger, though his\nobligations had really ceased when he reached the town. When the boat\nstarted back down the river, carrying the only people whom he knew,\npangs of homesickness came to the lonely youth; now he felt himself\ntruly a stranger in a strange land. But a new friend appeared. A good\nwoman who had been at the service on Sunday opened her home to him,\nand established that night an \u201cinstitution\u201d which gradually extended\nthroughout the state of Montana, \u201cBrother Van\u2019s room.\u201d Even in the\nnewest town where a beginning was just being made, there was always\nsome home in which a place was set apart to receive the welcome\ntraveler whenever he could come that way.\n\n  Illustration:   RUINS OF HISTORIC FORT BENTON, WHERE BROTHER VAN\n                  ATE JERKED BUFFALO MEAT AND HEARD TALES OF INDIAN\n                  WARFARE\n\nOn the Monday following that eventful Sabbath, Brother Van set\nout to explore the town. The central interest of Fort Benton was its\nfur trading. This industry was developed in the United States by the\nenterprise of John Jacob Astor. He saw that Canada was profiting by\nthis trade, and in 1812 he petitioned Congress to establish fur trading\nposts within the boundaries of the United States, and to introduce such\ngoods as were necessary for bartering with the Indians.\n\nTrading posts soon began to dot the vast wilderness of the North and\nWest. They were all built on the same general plan. A heavy stockade\nwas made by driving tree trunks into the earth so close together as to\nmake a wall, the only opening left being a massive double gate. In one\nof the sections of this gate was a small door through which in times of\ndanger the trader could admit a single person at a time. He could open\nit and talk with any Indian who came, without allowing the visitor to\nenter. Within the outer stockade was an open space; then in the center\nwas a strongly built log or adobe structure containing the trader\u2019s\nquarters, storeroom, and the fort. In the wall of the storeroom was\nan opening about eighteen inches square. This was called the \u201ctrading\nhole\u201d and was protected by heavy shutters controlled from the inside.\n\nWhen the Indians came with their packs of furs the trader\u2019s men met\nthem outside the stockade, and took from them all guns, bows, arrows,\ntomahawks, and any other dangerous weapons which they might be carrying.\nThen, in a group at a time, they were admitted to the stockade and\nthe heavy gates locked behind them. They were virtually prisoners, and\nadvancing across the open space between the stockade and the fort, they\nwould come to the trading hole, where the agent of the fur merchant\u2019s\ncompany was waiting to barter with them.\n\nOne by one the Indians would offer to the trader, who was often an\nunscrupulous cheat, the beautiful soft furs which had been secured by\ntrapping and shooting amid the dangers and the hardships of the cold\nand lonely North. Gaudy calico, cheap blankets, or the bad combination\nof bullets and whisky, were given in exchange for the valuable pelts.\nTo such traders, to certain selfish and designing settlers, and to some\nof the government agents, who have steadily driven the Indians back and\nback from wide prairie to a hunting ground, and then to a reservation,\nthe red man owes much of the degradation and humiliation which overtook\nhim.\n\nAs we look curiously at the straggling herds of buffalo, deer, and\nantelope in our parks and preserves to-day, we can scarcely realize\nhow abundant was the game which the early hunters and trappers found\nroaming over the \u201cGreat American Desert.\u201d There is evidence of one\nherd of buffalo that made the earth brown for a stretch of country\nseventy miles long by thirty miles wide. On one of the first railroads\nto be laid across the plains of Kansas, a train was once held up for\nnine hours while a herd crossed the tracks. Both whites and Indians\nslaughtered these vast herds carelessly and wantonly, using a variety\nof methods. A government report of 1875 speaks of one hundred thousand\nbuffalo that were killed near Dodge City, Kansas. Only the saddles were\nused for food. The same report says: \u201cIt is known that south of the\nArkansas River, west of Wichita, there were from one to two thousand\nmen killing buffalo for hides alone.\u201d At one place on the south forks\nof the Republican River in 1874, there were six thousand and five\nhundred carcases from which the hides had been stripped.\n\nTowers for religious purposes, or medicine lodges, were built by the\nIndians with the horns of buffalo, antelope, and deer. Some of these\ntowers were so high that they could be seen for many miles. Father\nDe Smet speaks of seeing one of them from the Missouri River as he\nmade his way westward in the year 1846. As a result of this enormous\ndestruction of the herds, the hide markets became so glutted that\nthe skins of bulls brought only one dollar, and the hides of cows and\ncalves from forty to sixty cents each.\n\nJust outside of the city of Fort Benton there was pointed out to\nBrother Van a famous cliff about one hundred and twenty feet high and\nrising sheer from the river. There the Indians were in the habit of\nkilling buffalo by a method that is interesting if brutal. A fleet,\nactive young man of the tribe would disguise himself as a buffalo by\nwearing a buffalo skin with the head attached. He was possessed also of\na \u201cIuis Kini\u201d (i uis-ki ni) or buffalo stone, which gave power to call\nbuffalo. Before a run to a \u201cfalling place,\u201d he spent the night invoking\nthe aid of the gods by burning sweet grass and sweet pine to draw the\nspirits. He purified himself by passing through the smoke of this fire.\n\nWhen all was ready the buffalo hunter would attract the\nattention of the herd by strange antics, and then begin to call:\n\u201cHoo-hoo-hoo-ini-uh-ini-uh.\u201d Men and women concealed behind rocks began\nto yell; and the buffalo, terrified, ran with ever increasing speed\ntoward the decoy, who led them toward the precipice. The herd, which\nmight vary in number from one hundred and fifty to ten thousand, would\nrush blindly forward and plunge over the wall to death in the shallow\nwater beneath. The decoy would dodge into a crevice previously chosen\nin the edge of the cliff.\n\nBrother Van had arrived in this interesting country of Indian exploits\njust before an eventful day, the Fourth of July. He was invited to the\nFort as a guest of the non-commissioned officers. The Stars and Stripes\nfluttered over the rude barracks every day, but in the town the flag\nwas displayed to show that it was a holiday. Wild scenes were enacted\nin the saloons, and Indians, who were waiting with their hard-earned\nfurs, learned of the white man\u2019s \u201cfire-water,\u201d which was used freely\nin the celebration.\n\nOut in the stockade of the fort a feast was spread. The boat had\nbrought bread and dried fruit, both of which were great delicacies.\nThese, combined with the usual western fare, made a sumptuous repast.\nThe western fare consisted of \u201cjerked buffalo,\u201d which is simply\ndried buffalo meat, fresh antelope meat, a great delicacy even to the\nwesterner, and the best dish of all, dried buffalo tongue.\n\nSpeeches were made and weird stories told of the warfare with the\nIndians. The eastern youth listened and wondered, and on that day he\npondered over the subject of the red man\u2019s condition. Later he decided\nthe matter in his own mind; he knew that the Indian had been more\nsinned against than sinning, and that the original American had been\ngreatly misunderstood.\n\nThose days of tarrying were fruitful days for William Van Orsdel. Not\nonly were the cowboys and freighters won to friendship by his sympathy,\nbut the Indians\u2019 confidence was gained. Friends, whose helpfulness\nwas to last through his busy lifetime, became interested in him. Young\nTatton, a tall, vigorous, fighting scout, a member of Company B of the\nSeventh Infantry, was one of the men who became one of Brother Van\u2019s\nfast friends in those days. He knew the West and understood its joys\nand privations thoroughly. He had noticed the new preacher as he faced\nthe motley crowd that first day in Fort Benton. Though Tatton was a\nRoman Catholic, he admired the zeal which had found a way and a place\nfor religious services on the very day on which the missionary had set\nfoot on the new soil. With leveled eyes the soldier scout had watched\nthe crowd as they listened to that first earnest sermon of the eager\nnewcomer, and to Brother Van he gave his support and a loyal and\nlasting friendship.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER VI\n\n                      A BROTHER TO THE BLACKFOOT\n\n\nTHE first strenuous days in Fort Benton, and the welcome he received\nthere, might have convinced Brother Van that he had found a good place\nin which to settle. It was plain that his ministry was much needed\nand the prospects for a growing and useful work were bright. But he\nnever forgot for a moment that he had taken the long journey from his\nGettysburg home for the sake of serving among the Indians. Hence it is\nnot surprising that within a week from that exciting morning when he\nhad begun his Montana preaching career in the crowded barroom, we find\nhim pushing on toward one of the agencies where he could more readily\nget in touch with the tribes. Again his attractive manner and his\nearnestness of purpose won for him a lift on his way, only this time he\nwas to jolt over the rough prairie roads in a heavy wagon, instead of\ngliding smoothly along the Missouri.\n\nThe Regimental Adjutant from Fort Shaw had brought his wife into\nFort Benton so that she might take passage on the return trip of the\n_Far West_. The Adjutant had met Brother Van, and learning of the\nmissionary\u2019s desire to continue his journey to the West, had invited\nhim to share the army wagon for the ride back to the post. The eager\nyoung traveler grasped this opportunity without delay. It did not\ntake him long to stow away his baggage in the army conveyance, for his\nscanty wardrobe made only a small bundle. He took his place beside the\nAdjutant, and soon they were rumbling over the prairie toward Sun River\nsettlement and Fort Shaw.\n\nThe gumbo was still sticky and tough from the rains of the previous\ndays, and it was apparent from the first that there was to be a hard\njourney ahead. The five army mules drawing the wagon objected to the\nheavy traveling of the unbroken roads, and caused delays by their\n\u201cobjections.\u201d The driver\u2019s patience at last was exhausted, and in true\nwestern style he spoke to the errant beasts. Then he remembered that\nthere was a preacher in the wagon, and apologized for the language he\nhad used. Brother Van showed himself to be a very human missionary, for\nhe laughingly replied, \u201cWhy, bless your soul, you express my sentiments\nexactly, though I can\u2019t approve of your language.\u201d\n\nBefore dark a severe thunderstorm overtook the travelers, and the\nonly shelter they could find was a lonely, deserted cabin. Here they\nspent the night, making the best of such comforts as were found in the\ngovernment wagon. The coyotes sang a lonely song, and the prairie-dogs,\ntheir only neighbors, made vigorous protests against the intruders.\nThis was the initiation of the tenderfoot preacher into the joys of\noverland journeying.\n\nOn the next day they reached Sun River where no church or schoolhouse\nexisted; so again a place for Sunday service was sought, and a\nChristian home was found which was opened gladly for this unaccustomed\nuse. Riders were sent out to all the settlements within reach, with\nthe result that on the following day a fine congregation gathered in\nthe frontier cabin. Carelessness about habits of prayer and worship\nwas common among these lonely people of the opening West. Brother Van\u2019s\ntender songs and warning words brought a genuine response from them.\n\nAfter the service the travelers pushed on so that they might reach\nFort Shaw by evening. At this place also, Brother Van immediately set\nabout making arrangements to preach; and within a short time he had the\nsoldiers of the garrison gathered about him, talking to them in a manly,\nhelpful way that won their interest and their respect.\n\nTarrying but a day at Fort Shaw, he traveled with several companions\nnorth to the town of Chouteau, which was on the Teton River, and\nfifteen miles from the base of the Rocky Mountains. He hastened then\nto the Indian agency near there where the Blackfeet were settled. This\ntribe had migrated from Canada to the prairies of Montana, and it is\ninteresting to know that they had been first called \u201cBlackfeet\u201d by the\nFlatheads and Shoshones, for when they had come to the end of their\nlong journey, their moccasins were travel-stained and black.\n\nOn arriving at the agency, the missionary first made himself known to\nthe officials and clerks and spoke to a group of them. They received\nhim cordially and from the beginning of his stay he was given fresh\nconfidence for his new work by the good will that they showed him. In\nhis first meetings with the Indians the Blackfeet tribesmen listened\nto him stolidly and were apparently unmoved; but they caught the spirit\nof brotherhood in this paleface preacher, and they soon began to show\nsigns of their approval of him. Brother Van was happy indeed in the\nnew opportunities opening before him, and in the increasing evidence\nthat the Indians gave of their affection for him. He was fascinated\nby the strange life and mysterious customs which he found all about\nhim. During his stay with the Blackfeet, and through later years, the\nmissionary loved to study their ceremonies and legends.\n\nOne of the oldest institutions of the tribe was the building of the\nmedicine lodge, a celebration which Brother Van followed with the\nkeenest interest. It took place at the time of the ripening of berries\nin the summer, and lasted through four days and nights. The lodge was\nalways erected in fulfilment of a vow made by some woman of the tribe\nwho was in trouble and who wished the help of the gods, perhaps to\nbring back in safety a husband or son away at war, or to restore a\nsick child to health. Her pledge was made publicly, so that all the\ntribe would know that she would build the lodge in case her prayer\nwas granted. At the proper time the whole tribe would assemble and\nset up their lodges in a circle in the middle of which the medicine\nlodge was erected. The woman who had made the vow neither ate nor drank\nthroughout the four days, except once only, and that in sacrifice.\nThe other members of the tribe gave themselves over to visiting and\nfeasting with their friends, and, also, to a strange kind of worship in\nwhich they tried to prove the sincerity of their prayers by torturing\nthemselves in various painful ways.\n\nThe lodge was built in accordance with a plan which the Sun himself was\nsupposed to have given to one of the young men of the tribe in ancient\ntimes. It represented the world, and was made by placing small trees\nof uniform size in a circle, and bending the branches toward the center\nto form the roof. One half of it was painted red for the Sun, and the\nother half black to represent night. In recent years the medicine lodge\nis seldom used owing to the effect of modern education in destroying\nthe superstitious beliefs of the Indians, and within another generation\nthe ceremony will probably be extinct.\n\n  Illustration:   Board of Home Missions and Church Extension\n                  Methodist Episcopal Church.\n\n                  BROTHER VAN VISITING A MEDICINE LODGE ERECTED AS\n                  A TRIBAL CEREMONY BY THE BLACKFEET INDIANS\n\nBrother Van also discovered that the tribal dances were not as simple\nas they had appeared to be, but that they were filled with hidden\nmeanings, and that each had a history of its own. The story of the\nPigeon Dance, which was one of those witnessed by the new missionary,\nshows the background of folk tales, dreams, and of the imitation of\nanimal and bird life from which these dances grew. It is believed by\nthe people that all of their dances originated in the dream of a seer\nof the tribe many generations ago. The custom was for some old man\nto go off into absolute seclusion out of sound of any human voice. He\nthen subjected himself to various ceremonials, and becoming at last\nexhausted sought sleep and dreams. The process was continued until\nsomething new and unheard of was dreamed. The seeker for \u201csomething new\nunder the sun\u201d would then come back to the waiting tribe, and patiently\nwait and watch for his dream to come true. Not until he saw it in\nreality could he call the tribe together and proclaim the glad news.\n\nOnce upon a time an old man went away to a quiet spot and after the\nproper ceremonials fell asleep and the much desired dream came to him.\nHe saw a flock of beautiful, many-colored pigeons and as they circled\nand whirled, he perceived that they were in truth executing a rythmic\ndance. With grace and perfection of motion they performed wonderful\nand intricate figures. Their soft cooing made a weird and strange\nmusic which added to the charm of the mystical dances. The old man had\ndreamed the dream for which he longed. He came back to the tribe and\nsaid nothing, but he watched for the realization of the vision.\n\nEagerly he sought the nesting and feeding places of pigeons. One day\nhe actually saw the birds dancing as he had seen them in his dream.\nImmediately runners were sent forth to call the people together. A\ngreat feast was prepared at which the seer announced the vision that\nhe had seen, and the manner in which the dance was conducted. On the\nAmerican nation\u2019s birthday in the year 1917, this strange but beautiful\ndance was a part of the celebration at the Blackfeet Indian agency, and\nBrother Van, so long a friend of the Indians, was the guest of honor.\n\nThe missionary found that through their love of beauty and heroism\nthe Indians had a peculiar understanding and appreciation of Bible\nhistory. There was much in their simple, wandering life that made them\nfeel a close kinship with those shepherds, hunters, and warriors of the\nancient East. They had passed through the same great human experiences,\nand they shared many of the same beliefs. In their crude and faltering\nway they, too, looked up to a Great Spirit who made all things and\nupon whose bounty all men depend. As they told Brother Van their tribal\nlegends, he was struck by the remarkable resemblance which many of\nthese bore to some of the stories of the Bible. The Blackfeet story of\nthe forming of the world is peculiarly interesting because it shows the\nbelief which they have in a Creator.\n\n\u201cIn the beginning there was water everywhere. A raft was floating on\nwhich Old Man (the Sun) and all the animals were gathered. Old Man\nwished to make land. He sent the beaver to the bottom of the water to\nbring up mud. The beaver never reached the bottom. The loon was tried\nand he failed. The otter made the perilous journey and failed. At last\nthe muskrat was sent down. He was gone so long that Old Man thought he\nwas drowned. Finally he came up and floated almost dead. He was pulled\non top of the raft, and as they looked at his paws, they found a little\nmud on them. Old Man dried this mud and scattered it over the water,\nand land was formed.\n\n\u201cOld Man then began to make the earth to suit him. He marked places\nfor rivers to run. Sometimes the rivers ran smoothly and sometimes\nwith falls. He made mountains, prairies, and timber. He carried a lot\nof rocks around with him, and of these he made mountains. He caused\ngrass to grow on the plains for the animals to feed upon. He marked\ncertain pieces of land where berries should grow; others where camas\nshould grow; others for wild carrots and turnips, and others for\nservice-berries, bull-berries, and rosebuds.\n\n\u201cHe made the Big Horn sheep and put it on the prairie, but it was\nawkward and slow; so he put it on the rough hills, and it skipped about.\nWhile Old Man was in the mountains he made the antelope. It ran so fast\nthat it hurt itself; so he put it on the plains and said, \u2018This is the\nplace that will suit you.\u2019\n\n\u201cAt last he decided to make a woman and a child. He modeled clay in\nhuman shape and laid the forms on the ground and said, \u2018You shall be\npeople.\u2019 After four days they were changed and he said, \u2018Stand up and\nwalk.\u2019 They walked to the river and the woman said, \u2018Shall we live\nforever?\u2019 Old Man said, \u2018I had not thought of that. We must decide.\nI\u2019ll throw this buffalo chip in the water. If it floats, people shall\nlive after being dead for four days. If it sinks, that shall be the end\nof them.\u2019\n\n\u201cHe threw the chip. It floated. The woman said, \u2018No, I will throw this\nstone into the water. If it floats, we shall live always; if it sinks,\npeople must die.\u2019 The rock sank. Old Man said, \u2018You have chosen. That\nwill be an end to them.\u2019 By and by the child died and the woman wanted\nto change the law, but Old Man answered, \u2018What is made law must be law.\u2019\n\n\u201cAt first people had claws like bears so that they might gather roots\nand berries. There were buffalo which killed and ate people. Old Man\nsaid, \u2018I\u2019ll change this. From this day on the people shall eat buffalo.\u2019\nSo he cut some service-berry shoots and peeled them; then he took a\nflat piece of wood and tied strips of green hide to it and made a bow.\nOn one end of each light, straight shoot, he tied a chip of hard stone,\nand on the other end he put a feather. He gave them to the men, saying,\n\u2018Take these the next time you go among buffalo. Shoot as I have taught\nyou.\u2019\n\n\u201cWhen the arrows first struck the buffalo, it called out, \u2018Oh, my\nfriends, a great fly is biting me.\u2019 After the buffalo had been killed,\nOld Man saw his people eat the raw flesh. \u2018I will show you something\nbetter,\u2019 said he. He gathered soft, dried, rotten wood. He took another\npiece of wood and rapidly drilled a hole in it with an arrow-head. A\ntiny flame soon sprang up from which he kindled a big fire and showed\nhis children how to roast the meat.\u201d\n\nThe history of the forming of the Blackfeet Indian tribe is also very\nquaint, and it could not but have an especial appeal to Brother Van,\nfor from his early youth his life had been one to encourage clean\nliving. The story tells how one brave looked with disfavor upon the\ntribal vices and misdemeanors, and strove to bring the members into a\nfiner, cleaner way of living. His own life was pure and good, and his\npeople recognized this, but they would not heed his pleadings. Finally,\nhe went off into the silence of the plains to communicate with the\nGreat Spirit. He told of his desire for his people: that they should\nall be pure and strong; that the maidens should be contented; that they\nshould dwell in a land where game abounded, and where wars should never\ncome. From this great spiritual leader the Blackfeet tribe was said to\nhave descended.\n\nAs Brother Van pursued his work among his beloved Indians, they became\nmore and more attached to him. Like the white residents, they, too,\naccepted their kind-hearted visitor as a brother. This tie deepened\nwith the years in which he was known to them, and in time a great honor\ncame to him. He was adopted into the tribe, and with a picturesque\nceremony he was received into their circle and given a new name,\nAmahk-Us-Ki-Tsi-Pahk-Pa, which means \u201cGreat Heart\u201d or \u201cBig Heart.\u201d\nThere was a tribute in the meaning of those queer syllables which any\nman might be proud to win\u2015\u2015especially from people of a different race.\nAt the same time he received a gift of a new and beautiful tribal\ncostume from them. It is Brother Van\u2019s custom to visit the Blackfeet\nevery year on the Fourth of July when he wears his Indian costume and\ncelebrates the nation\u2019s birthday with his Indian brothers.\n\n  Illustration:   Board of Home Missions and Church Extension\n                  Methodist Episcopal Church.\n\n                  THE PICTURESQUE CEREMONY OF ADOPTION INTO THE\n                  BLACKFEET TRIBE\n\nWith the progress of his work on the agency, Brother Van\u2019s indignation\nwas aroused by the injustice and oppression dealt to the red man.\nAs he witnessed the system of trading, he came to see with ever\nincreasing clearness, that the Indians would never have the necessary\nopportunities for progress and development unless the white man, and\nthe white man\u2019s government, could be brought to deal fairly and justly\nwith these original inhabitants of the plains. The very future of the\nIndian race he saw to be at stake. \u201cWhat is the use,\u201d he asked himself,\n\u201cof teaching and training these people when diseases caused by contact\nwith the white man\u2019s civilization are threatening their existence, and\nwhen their living is being taken from them by the settlement of their\nlands?\u201d\n\nThe problem which confronted the missionary has been put briefly in a\nmore recent time by Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the Hon. Cato Sells,\nwho says, \u201cBefore you educate the Indian you must save his life.\u201d As\nBrother Van faced the misery, the disease, and the ignorance among them,\nhe decided that even to save the Indians\u2019 lives, to say nothing of\nwinning them to Christ, it would be necessary to lead the white people\nto change their ways. How could he continue to try to convert and\neducate the Indians, when the Indians could see very plainly that the\nwhite preacher\u2019s brothers were very much in need of the same kind of\nteaching?\n\nGradually Brother Van\u2019s resolution was formed\u2015\u2015he must give his first\nattention to establishing churches in the new towns that the white\nsettlers were building. It meant giving up the life among the people\nhe had come to serve, and who already had shown many encouraging signs\nof response to his preaching. His decision led him away from his new\nfriends and back among his own race, but he continued to come into\ncontact with the Indians from time to time. His sympathy with them and\nhis understanding of their habits helped him to teach them successfully.\nThrough the years he proved himself to be \u201cGreat Heart,\u201d a brother to\nthe Blackfoot.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER VII\n\n                            THE GOSPEL TEAM\n\n\nTHE unfriendly conditions which Brother Van found growing between the\nIndians and the whites led later to the Custer Massacre. While in the\nmissionary\u2019s mind there was no expectation of such a serious climax,\nyet he saw that the idea of a real brotherhood of man must be given\nas quickly as possible to the traders, miners, ranchmen, and settlers.\nThrough their better understanding of Christ\u2019s religion the Indian\nthrough example would be led to know the white man\u2019s God.\n\nIt was a fresh quest that made Brother Van set out for Helena,\nwhich was then a comparatively large settlement. The town was in the\nproximity of the gold mine called Last Chance Gulch. This mine has an\ninteresting history. Prospectors had been for long, weary months at\nSilver Creek, which was twelve or thirteen miles from where Helena now\nstands. Luck had been against them, and they packed their horses and\ncame down the trail disheartened and \u201cbroke.\u201d They resolved to give up\nthe search and go home. Coming into Helena in the evening, they made\ncamp close to the tiny town, intending to leave early on the following\nday.\n\nOn the next morning the horses were loaded, and everything was in\nreadiness for the start, when the unquenchable faith of the prospector\nmoved John Cowan to take up a pick and to make one more attempt to find\nore.\n\n\u201cWell, boys, here\u2019s our last chance,\u201d he said, carelessly, as he drove\nhis pick into the ground.\n\nHe struck gold. From that mine fifty to eighty million dollars\u2019 worth\nof gold was taken. The words of the lucky prospector always stuck to\nthe section, and it was called Last Chance Gulch. The mine was five\nmiles long and the vein two hundred feet wide. One nugget was free\nfrom quartz, and was worth two thousand and seventy-three dollars. Last\nChance Gulch has a thrilling record. Scenes of adventure and death took\nplace there. Men made vast fortunes. Other men lost all that they had\nand went away broken in spirit. Gamblers won and lost; prospectors\nfailed; but always Last Chance paid in gold.\n\nEntering Helena to-day, you will find a thriving, bustling city, proud\nof one of the finest hotels in the Northwest. The hotel stands on the\nspot where the miner stuck in his pick. Enough gold was found in the\nsoil to pay for the excavation, and this was taken from the \u201ctailings,\u201d\nor discarded earth handled by the early miners. But Helena was a\ntypical mining town when the Eastern tenderfoot came. He was at the\nmercy of the hard element. Only the rare good judgment and a sense of\nthe fitness of things saved the preacher and made his ministrations\npossible.\n\nBrother Van made a short stay there, and then, as a missionary\nto \u201ceverywhere,\u201d he pressed on to Bozeman. There he found the only\nMethodist Church building in Montana Territory. It was a brick church\nand it had been built through the enterprise of the Rev. Thomas C.\nIliff. This missionary was a great force in the new West. He brought a\ndainty, cultured, Eastern bride to the unsettled territory. Through the\ninspiration of her companionship and tactful assistance, together with\nhis own natural courage and ability, he became a notable power for good\nin the development of the West.\n\nDr. Iliff had come to Helena in Eastern finery, and appeared on\nthe streets adorned with an immaculate linen frock coat, fancy vest,\nstriped trousers, and silk hat. As he came along the streets, cries of\n\u201cFresh fish! Fresh fish!\u201d greeted him. The silk hat seemed particularly\nto annoy the deriding miners who closed in around the preacher.\nHis fighting blood was up, and the new preacher continued his way,\napparently undaunted by the jeers of the crowd. But early next morning\nhe stole forth to a hatter\u2019s and purchased a wide-brimmed hat, which\nstyle of hat, by the way, he wore to the day of his death. With the\naid of the obliging haberdasher, the silk hat was wrapped to resemble a\njoint of stove-pipe and it afterward became a relic of by-gone splendor.\nBrother Van and the hero of the tall hat story became fast friends,\nand had many an adventure together in the years of roughing it that\nfollowed.\n\nA pony had been given to Brother Van during his visit at Helena. He\nwas now in reality a circuit-rider, and as he became familiar on the\nplains, he and his steed began to be known everywhere as the \u201cGospel\nTeam.\u201d They traveled through a large section of the state and when\nthe anniversary of Brother Van\u2019s arrival in Montana came, it was\nan experienced preacher who celebrated it. Such a wonderful year it\nhad been! Hardships were forgotten in the triumphs, for many \u201cfirst\nservices\u201d had been conducted, and scores of \u201cfirst members\u201d had been\nreceived. The year had brought friends, and his faithful pony seemed to\nbe a real partner in service. Into the preacher\u2019s pocketbook had gone\nexactly seventy-five dollars as the year\u2019s salary, but there was no\nthought of quitting because of the lack of stipend. The West had called\nhim and had claimed him.\n\nOn the day that marked the end of his first year in Montana, Brother\nVan received from the Conference an appointment as Junior Preacher\nto the Rev. F. A. Riggin. The appointment read: \u201cTo Beaver Head and\nJefferson District.\u201d\n\nVirginia City in the southwest corner of the state was the center of\nthis circuit. Beaver Head, Madison River, and Salmon City, one hundred\nand fifty miles away, were its three points. Montana had been set\noff from Idaho and erected into a separate territory in May, 1864.\nBrother Van\u2019s circuit, therefore, extended across the Rocky Mountains\ninto Idaho as far as Salmon City. The region provided variety in its\ncharacteristics. There were lonely trails to travel over for the pony\nand Brother Van, and for his co-worker, Mr. Riggin. There were only\neighteen members of the church in all that large region. The junior and\nsenior preachers so arranged their work that one man took care of the\nregular appointments while the other did the evangelistic work. By this\nplan a continuous series of evangelistic meetings was held for seven\nmonths. At the end of their first year in the district, seven new\nsocieties had been organized, and one hundred and fifty new members\nreceived into the church.\n\nAmong the long rides which the Gospel Team took was one to the town of\nButte. In describing the occasion Brother Van remarked dryly: \u201cWe had\nall but ten of the whole town in our congregation on that first night.\u201d\nThis would be a remarkable statement if it were made to-day; but at\nthat time the population of Butte was exactly fifty people. The city is\nnow the most important railway center in the state. It has been called\nthe \u201cgreatest mining camp in the world.\u201d Brother Van\u2019s visit was at the\nvery beginning of the history of what is now a city of great interest\nto America.\n\nWhen the snow cleared away the Gospel Team penetrated to the National\nPark, and one day on coming into the Upper Yellowstone Valley, Brother\nVan found a large congregation waiting. One man said: \u201cIf a herd of\nwild buffalo had run through the streets of St. Louis it could not have\ncaused more comment than that a preacher had come to the Yellowstone.\u201d\nThe National Park was then but a year old, and the grandeur of the\n\u201cWonderland of America\u201d was beginning to be appreciated. It was in the\nfamous place of geysers, deep canyons, and waterfalls, where nature had\ncombined many influences to produce the beauty of the surrounding scene,\nthat Brother Van conducted the first Protestant religious service held\nin the new park. The missionary continued to go about steadily from\nsection to section and at the close of his five years of work in\nMontana as missionary to everywhere, he received the appointment of\nlocal deacon. It was just about the date of this recognition, that the\ntrouble brewing between the Indians and the white men developed into\nthe Indian wars.\n\nThe settlers lived in small isolated communities. Some of the pioneers\nhad seized the opportunity to return east to visit their old homes\nwhile the Centennial Exhibition was in progress in Philadelphia in the\nyear 1876. In the spring of that year gold had been discovered in the\nBlack Hills of Dakota, an almost unknown region girt around by what is\nknown as Bad Lands, or \u201cMedicine Country,\u201d as the Indians called it. At\nonce there was a rush of miners out of Montana to the new fields. This\nmove helped to reduce the white population. A spirit of rebellion had\nbeen steadily rising in the minds of the red men until it reached the\nopen hostility soon to give to American history the fearful story of\nthe Custer Massacre.\n\n  Illustration:   Copyright, W. T. Ridgely Calendar Co.\n                  Painting by Charles M. Russell.\n\n                  INDIANS WERE EVERYWHERE STEALING HORSES AND\n                  TERRIFYING SETTLERS\n\nThe Indians objected so strongly to the intrusion of prospectors and\nothers into their territory, that they sent Red Cloud and Spotted Tail\nto Washington to protest, because the coming of the white men into\nthat region was a clear violation of existing treaties. The government\npromised to keep prospectors out, but failed to do so. The Indians\nthen demanded payment for their lands. The government sent a commission\nwhich reported that force would be the only way to settle the dispute.\nThe Indians also decided that this was their only method of protest.\nIt had been seen that the first meetings worked no advantage to either\nside, but served only to anger both Indians and whites. A message was\nsent by the United States government to Sitting Bull, who had gathered\nall the warriors around him in the Big Horn country. He was ordered\nto return to the Reservation, or the United States would make war on\nhis people. He sent this reply: \u201cWhen you come for me you need bring no\nguides. You will easily find me. I shall be right here. I shall not run\naway.\u201d\n\nHe kept his promise. The Indians took their allowance from the United\nStates government and bought bullets and guns. They gathered along\nthe Rosebud and Little Big Horn rivers and among the hills and valleys\nbetween. They were led by Rain-in-the-Face while their real leader,\nSitting Bull, was absent making medicine.\n\nThe United States troops in the western States had concentrated in\ntheir efforts to check the rebellion. General Custer was in command\nof the cavalry under General Terry. Scouts brought word that a band of\nIndians were riding rapidly to join the main body. They were supposed\nto be Pawnees, and numbering not more than twelve hundred. General\nCuster was sent to surround the camp. He divided his men into three\ncompanies as he prepared a well-planned attack. Major Reno was to ride\ndirectly across, but was to wait one hour to allow Major Benteen\u2019s\ndetachment to go up the river, cross it, and so be above the camp. The\ntactics did not allow for the hard traveling which Major Benteen found,\nnor for the great force of hostile Indians.\n\nAt the end of the hour of waiting, Major Reno attacked and was so\ncompletely overcome and dismayed at the strength of the Indians, that\nhe fled to the bluffs. Major Benteen arrived at last, but saw that he\ncould do nothing, so he joined the retreat. This left General Custer\nat the place which he had selected with two hundred men to face an\ninfuriated band of Indians numbering five thousand. When Custer saw the\nsize of the Indian army, he sent a scout to the retreating men in the\nhills, saying, \u201cCome on, big village, be quick, bring packs.\u201d He meant\nby packs the extra powder and bullets. With their horrible war-cry the\nIndians bore down on the little handful of men, who soon saw that there\nwas nothing to do but to fight and die.\n\nGeneral Custer saw every one of his men mutilated and scalped, and\nhe stood at last alone. He received seven wounds before he fell. The\nonrushing Indians were abashed and astonished at such bravery; not\na rough hand was laid on Custer\u2019s body, and no tomahawk tore into\nthe hero\u2019s scalp. On the next day Major Reno and Major Benteen were\nfollowed by the Indians and attacked as they prepared to make their\nlast stand. But these enemies saw the rest of the white men approaching\nunder Generals Terry and Gibbon and quickly fled.\n\nOn the twenty-seventh day of June, the bodies of General Custer and\nhis brave men were buried. A monument marks the spot where they fell,\nand all America honors the courage that the handful of men displayed\non that summer day. Another people honor those dead. The Sioux Indians\nlook upon General Custer as a god because of his bravery. His memory is\nhonored and loved among them, and they call him the \u201cEvening Star.\u201d\n\nIn _Lives of Famous Indian Chiefs_, N. B. Wood says that there were two\nsurvivors of Custer\u2019s last stand, Curley, the Crow scout, who put on a\nSioux blanket and escaped, and the horse Comanche, the famous war horse\nof Captain Keogh. He was found bleeding from seven wounds, and was\ncarried back by soldiers on a litter of blankets and poles. Comanche\nrecovered and lived to the age of forty-five, while few horses reach\nthe age of thirty-five. His skin was stuffed and is now in the museum\nof the Kansas State University.\n\nThis massacre at Little Big Horn, now so memorable a part of American\nhistory, threw a gloom over the whole nation. The New York _Tribune_ on\nJuly 3, 1876, said: \u201cIt is the eve of Independence Day, the Centennial\nFourth. All the land is ablaze with enthusiasm. Alas! if the tidings\nof General Custer\u2019s terrible disaster could be borne on the wings of\nthe four winds, dirges, not anthems would be heard in the streets of\nPhiladelphia, New York, and San Francisco.\n\n\u201cA great shadow has fallen on the valley of the Big Horn. The youngest\nof our guard, the _beau sabreur_ of the Army of the Potomac, the\ngolden-haired chief whom the Sioux had learned to love, has fought his\nlast fight. Surrounded by over two hundred and fifty brothers in arms,\nCuster lies buried in the field where he fought, and fought until he\ncould fight no longer.\u201d\n\nBut this serious situation of the Indian uprisings did not end with\nthis calamity which is referred to commonly as the Custer Massacre, and\nBrother Van had a full share of the dangers. Later the wars came into\nhis territory.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER VIII\n\n                        SCOUTING FOR UNCLE SAM\n\n\nGREAT excitement prevailed throughout the West over the rebellion\nof the Indians. The effect of the disturbances was felt increasingly\nseverely in the district between Bannack and Sheridan. The Nez Perc\u00e9s\nIndians had long dwelt in the beautiful and fertile Wallowa Valley in\nOregon. They resented the new treaty and fled into Montana from the\nsoldiers sent to force them into the reservations. They were accustomed\nto the trails through Idaho and over the mountains as they had often\ncome to Montana to camp and to hunt buffalo. This tribe had become\nknown as the Nez Perc\u00e9s (nose pinched) Indians because they wore rings\nin their noses when Lewis and Clark found them during their western\nexplorations. It is claimed by some members of the tribe that this was\na mistake and that wearing nose rings had never been a custom of theirs.\n\nThe Nez Perc\u00e9s were a peaceful people and it was this tribe that had\nsent the delegation to find the \u201cWhite Man\u2019s Book of Heaven.\u201d They had\nremembered the white man\u2019s religion during the twenty-five years after\nthe visit of those early explorers and the time of the pilgrimage of\ntheir leaders to St. Louis. They were eager to know the true religion\nand had often disputed about it among themselves. Some members of the\ntribe held that the white man worshiped the sun, as he had pointed to\nthe sky when he spoke to them of God. They knew that the book would\ntell them the truth.\n\nOne of the religious ceremonies of the Nez Perc\u00e9s was the sun-dance.\nA pole was set up in the center and the people circled about it. The\npriest stood in the center of the circle and held up a fish, berries,\nor some other food and said, \u201cOh! Father bless the fish. Oh! Father\nbless us.\u201d The phrase varied, of course, with the food thus held to the\nsun. Every one would chant the words after him with their heads bowed\nto the ground.\n\nThe resentment of these peaceful and worshipful, but now rebellious\nIndians showed itself in their acts of defiance. The settlements\nwere greatly disturbed. Stories of wanton raids on the settlers were\nborne back and forth as the swift riders galloped over the prairies.\nStockades were made for the protection of the women and children.\nMiners, ranchmen, and settlers were all engrossed in the one big object\nof protecting the lives of the scattered whites, and of saving the\nproperty so dearly bought by their daring and toil.\n\nThus Brother Van found a new job. He gave his services to his country,\nand, still preaching, singing, and cheering sad hearts, he became\nwar scout for General O. O. Howard, who had been put in command of\nthe troops sent to quell the Indian uprising. Only indecisive battles\nwere fought. The Indians were not quieted, but were fired to further\nviolence. Still resenting the presence of the whites on the plains, and\nstill failing to appreciate the protection of the Great White Father\nat Washington, they were moved to many acts of violence under such\nindomitable leaders as Chief Joseph, Looking Glass, and White Bird to\ncommand their movements.\n\nThe town of Bannack was built on Grasshopper Creek where gold was\ndiscovered in 1862. It was the first capital after the region became\na territory and it was there in December, 1864, that the first\nlegislature met and divided the new territory into counties.\n\nFear of the Indians was so intense in Bannack that the town was\npicketed, and volunteers were on the lookout at night. Brother Van was\npreaching to a large congregation in the courthouse and guards watched\nthe building in which he spoke.\n\n\u201cHe that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide\nunder the shadow of the Almighty.\n\n\u201cI will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in\nhim will I trust.\n\n\u201cSurely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from\nthe noisome pestilence.\u201d\n\nThese were the words with which the preacher sought to quiet the alarm\nin the hearts of the waiting people. At daybreak a swift rider came\ninto town and one arm dangled as he rode. Then came another rider who\nbrought the message, \u201cIndians are devastating and killing as they come\nand many of the settlers are being killed.\u201d\n\nA quick consultation followed in the grey dawn. Fifteen men volunteered\nand the missionary scout was among them. Melvin Trask was elected\ncaptain of the volunteer band. When all were ready a woman came and\nasked to be allowed to accompany them, for her husband, Mr. Winter,\nwas on the plains at the mercy of the invaders. The company absolutely\nrefused to allow her to go, and she was put under the guard of some\nneighbors that she might be protected.\n\nThe party set forth with grim, set faces and had proceeded about twelve\nmiles when they heard a rider approaching from the rear. On guard and\nalert against possible surprise, they were astonished on looking back\nto see Mrs. Winter, who soon rode into their circle. Declaring that\nno power on earth could keep her from her husband, she had mounted the\nsplendid horse which was her own particular property, and now joined\nthe party of volunteers. They rode until they reached her home. At the\nfront door lay the body of a man with four bullet wounds in his head,\nand on opening the door, Mrs. Winter found the body of her husband\u2019s\npartner, Mr. Montague. Mr. Winter could not be found in the house, so\nthe party started to search the grounds. By the side of the house they\nfound the body of a Mr. Smith, and further on discovered a ranchman\nnamed Farnsworth and to him were able to give comfort in his dying\nmoments.\n\nTwo scouts now set out to find Mr. Winter. As they departed, the Nez\nPerc\u00e9s warriors returned to the scene of devastation, and the little\nband of volunteers was forced to ride rapidly toward Bannack, firing\nas they went. This left the scouts alone at the mercy of the Indians.\nCrawling when they must, running when they could, they evaded the\nIndians and came at last to a protected section, where they were able\nto make real progress. Here they met the retreating party and the\nglad meeting was just over, when to their wondering eyes appeared\na blood-stained, disheveled, white man. Mrs. Winter recognized her\nhusband, and their joyous reunion took place on the sheltered road.\n\nCautiously the anxious riders turned back to the Winter ranch. The\nIndians had again departed. A wagon was found that could be used,\nthough the devastating hands of the Indians had touched, not only\nthe house, but all the property of the ranchman. The four bodies were\ntenderly lifted and taken to Bannack for Christian burial. That funeral\nis a sacred hour in Montana history. General Howard\u2019s scout, Brother\nVan, was the preacher. The terrified people gathered in a great sobbing\ncongregation. The isolation of the settlers gave them a feeling of\ndesolation that was disheartening. These four bodies were evidences of\nthe murderous intent of the red men; surely a large task was set for\nBrother Van in helping the terror-stricken on that day.\n\nThe services began and the preacher in his own quieting way talked to\nthe living, for hope was his vital breath. Comfort began to steal over\nthe waiting throng, when lo, a messenger appeared at the church door.\n\nHe said, \u201cThe Indians are again approaching Bannack.\u201d\n\nThe service came to an abrupt close, for those in attendance hastened\nhome to protect children and property. All was in confusion. The men\ngathered in consultation. They decided that word of the new attack must\nbe taken to General Howard, who was coming toward the scene and was\neven then but twelve miles away.\n\nAgain volunteers were called for. Once more Brother Van offered\nhis services and with John Poindexter set out for help. They rode\nthrough Indian country, and evading every danger, came at last to\nthe detachment of the regular army. They found the soldiers in sore\nstraits, for the long march through Idaho had been most disheartening.\nCommunications with the East were cut, and they were compelled to live\non such scant forage as the country provided. The infantry was without\nshoes and the cavalry was tired out with long marches in a mountainous\ncountry. On hearing of the danger that threatened Bannack, General\nHoward dispatched a company of cavalry for the town\u2019s protection. He\nthen spoke to the two hardy, seasoned scouts who had come to him for\nhelp, and asked of them a great service. He told them of the scantiness\nof his supplies. He explained the importance of sending information to\nWashington concerning the serious situation, and asked them if they\nwould be his messengers to the nearest point of communication with the\ngovernment.\n\n\u201cWe are at our country\u2019s service,\u201d was their instant reply.\n\nSo, in the lonely watches of the night, John Poindexter and Brother Van\nstarted on another errand of mercy. As they left the camp they could\nhear the hoot of the owl and the yelp of the coyote\u2015\u2015sounds that were\nplaintive and saddening at any time, but to these two scouts they were\nnow full of deadly meaning. They knew that the hoot and the yelp were\nsignals given by watching Indians.\n\nAs silently as possible they moved, going directly to the south, and\nas they journeyed the calls grew indistinct, and at last were heard no\nmore. The scouts relaxed slightly, for their confidence was somewhat\nregained. Suddenly in the dim dawn twelve warriors loomed up before\nthem. No shots could be fired. The party was small and a shot would but\ncall other waiting Indians to their assistance. General Howard must not\nbe drawn into needless battle, for his men and horses were suffering\nfor lack of rest. The horses which the scouts were riding were fresh\nand spirited; so, giving spur and riding in furious haste, the two\nmessengers outdistanced the Indians, leaving them and the immediate\ndanger far behind.\n\nAt last the scouts reached the stage road, and rode without\ninterruption to a station. Here the precious message to Washington was\nput in the hands of Uncle Sam\u2019s postmen, who drove the stage-coaches\namid such peril and hardship, carrying passengers and letters across\nthe \u201cGreat American Desert.\u201d Their duty accomplished, Brother Van and\nhis companion returned to the seat of war. They found Bannack ready\nfor a siege. Captain Bell was in charge of the company of regulars, and\nthere were also two companies of Montana Volunteers from Butte under\nthe command of Major W. A. Clark.\n\nWhen the excitement over their safe return had subsided, Brother Van\nagain turned his attention toward the church. The town was full of\npeople and their need of solace was great. A church building had been\nstarted but the Indian wars had halted the work. The missionary scout\ndetermined to finish the church and he found that everybody wanted to\nhelp; soldiers, settlers, and cowboys went at the building with hearty\ngood will. The little church was thus very speedily completed, and on\na beautiful Sabbath Day another of Brother Van\u2019s first enterprises was\ndedicated to the Lord.\n\n  Illustration:   BROTHER VAN\u2019S DISPATCH TO THE HELENA HERALD,\n                  AUGUST 13, 1877, DESCRIBES CONDITIONS AT BANNACK\n\nWhat the helpful presence of the preacher-scout meant to the\ndistressed townspeople in those trying days is shown by a dispatch sent\nfrom Bannack to the Helena _Herald_, August, 1877. The correspondent\nreported: \u201cWord also has just arrived that there is a load of guns and\nammunition within fifteen miles of us; an escort has just gone out to\nmeet it. News also comes that Joe Metlin is on his way from Glendale\nwith a company of volunteers for our protection, and that he will\narrive in a few hours. It is now midnight, and every now and then some\none keeps coming in, so that if we get the guns here by morning we\nwill be in better shape. The Rev. Van Orsdel is here doing duty as a\nvolunteer. He is a whole man. God bless all good men of whatever creed.\u201d\n\nA successful work in this community seemed ahead of the\nscout-missionary. A common fear had drawn the people closely together\nand nearer to their knowledge of a protecting God. But another work was\ngiven to Brother Van and fresh adventures shortly presented themselves.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER IX\n\n                              NEW TRAILS\n\n\nWHILE danger of the Indian attacks was still hanging over Bannack\nand the other settlements, new orders came to William Van Orsdel. A\nConference in session at St. Louis had heard an account of the young\nmissionary\u2019s work; and these wise men seeing how rapidly Montana was\ndeveloping made plans for the extension of the work of the church in\nnew fields. Their maps showed them a great unsettled section beyond the\nmountains known as the Bitter Root Valley. It would be a hard piece of\nwork and no tenderfoot could be sent to open up that section. There was\nbut one man for the new frontier, and obediently, Brother Van took a\nlast look at the tiny church just dedicated and bade farewell to the\npeople of Bannack.\n\nThe ride before the missionary covered a distance of about one hundred\nand fifty miles through the country where the Indians were carrying\non their warfare with the soldiers. The trail which he followed was\nthe very one taken by Lewis and Clark in September, 1805, on their way\nto the Pacific Coast. The explorers had been most hospitably received\nby the Indians, whom they found encamped at Ross Hole. They greeted\nthe \u201cwhite gods\u201d with all the awe of their simple natures and a feast\nand formal council was held in their honor. They called the newcomers\n\u201cSo-Yap-Po,\u201d meaning \u201cthe crowned ones,\u201d because they wore round hats\nor caps.\n\nAs Brother Van and his pony traveled through the historic country,\nsometimes the long grass would reach to the horse\u2019s head on each side\nof the trail; then stretches of barren and rocky ground with patches\nof sage brush would be reached, and again they would come suddenly to\nsteep-banked creeks hidden in the tall grass. The road led up through\nthe pass, now called Gibbon Pass, but the tragic encounter which gave\nit that name had but recently taken place.\n\nWhen Chief Joseph, the leader of the Nez Perc\u00e9s Indians, fully realized\nthat the United States troops had been sent to drive him and his band\nfrom their valley, he determined to migrate to Canada. The troops were\nin hot pursuit, and finding all direct routes cut off, the Indians came\neast through Lo Lo Pass into Montana. At Stevensville they paid for all\nsupplies purchased and gave notice that all that they wanted was to go\non their journey unmolested. When the soldiers in search of assembled\nIndians heard at Stevensville about Chief Joseph\u2019s party, they gave\nchase and a number of residents of the place joined them.\n\nThe Indians camped at Big Hole and the soldiers, under command of\nGeneral Gibbon, suddenly found themselves close to the camp one night.\nThey could hear the sound of Indian voices; so one of the soldiers\nclimbed a tree and was horrified to see a great many camp-fires\nburning. Precautions were taken at once and no camp-fires were kindled\nby the white troops. Hard bread had to be their only fare, a not very\nsubstantial food for their need in the fighting on the following\neventful day, August 9, 1877.\n\nWhen dawn was beginning to push back the shadows of the night, an\nIndian herder came out to look after the ponies; he stumbled over the\nwaiting soldiers. The alarm was given immediately and the herder was\nshot and killed. Instantly all was in confusion. Braves forgot their\nguns and fled; ponies broke bounds and ran wild; dogs barked; but the\nIndians reformed rapidly and the battle was on. It lasted all day and\nthe Indians fought like demons. They captured the only cannon and two\nthousand rounds of ammunition. They set fire to the grass in which the\ntroops had hid so that the soldiers were nearly suffocated at first,\nbut the wind changed and the smoke blew in the red men\u2019s faces. The\ntroops were cheered by this turn in their favor, and fought bravely\nand desperately, although they had been so long without proper food\nor sleep.\n\nSuddenly the firing ceased. A captured man had told the Indians that\nmore \u201cwalking soldiers\u201d were coming. Fearing to be utterly destroyed\nthe Indians fled, leaving eighty-nine dead men on the battle-field.\nChief Joseph was compelled to surrender when only eighty miles from\nthe Dominion line where strategic measures were used. In his desperate\nattempt for freedom, and by the record of his later life, he gained the\nhigh esteem of the United States government for his lofty character.\nHis people had honorable intentions but they found it hard to submit\nto the conquering white man.\n\n  Illustration:   Courtesy of the American Bureau of Ethnology.\n\n                  CHIEF JOSEPH, LEADER OF THE NEZ PERC\u00c9S AT THE\n                  BATTLE OF BIG HOLE\n\nAs Brother Van reached Big Hole on his way to Missoula a scene of\nhorror greeted his eyes. The bodies of the lately fallen heroes had\nbeen hurriedly buried, for another Indian attack was impending. A\nstorm had followed which made the earth so soft that the prowling\nwild beasts of the plains had exhumed the bodies of the brave men and\nwere devouring them. The missionary halted in his journey and sent a\nmessenger to Fort Missoula, which was then in course of erection. From\nthere a company of men was sent immediately to care for the bodies,\nwhich were taken back to the church for a public funeral. So Brother\nVan came for his first service in the new district into a scene of\nsorrow and distress. Hearts were tender over the loss of these men and\nto the waiting people he spoke words of comfort as he committed the\nbodies to the earth. After scenes of terror and bereavement it is not\nsurprising that a great revival followed, and the new preacher was\nagain able to find \u201cfirst members\u201d for \u201cfirst churches\u201d in that great\nsection where the dread of the Indians\u2019 fury was always present.\n\nMissoula was the center chosen for the frontier district where Brother\nVan was to preach and teach the people. Its name in the Indian language\nmeans \u201ca place of fear\u201d or \u201cat the stream of surprise or ambush.\u201d\nThe town, which is near the mouth of Hell Gate Canyon, is now a great\ndistributing point for a farming region and is the site of the State\nuniversity. The little church in the settlement of Missoula had been\nbuilt by Brother Van\u2019s friend, Dr. Iliff, who had been stationed there\npreviously for a short period.\n\nThrough the busy years spent at Virginia City and Bannack, these two\nfriends had met and labored frequently together. The experiences of\none holiday journey which they took make a story well worth repeating.\nDr. Iliff, his young bride, and Brother Van drove to Salt Lake City,\nwhere the Rocky Mountain Conference was held in 1875. Although\nattendance at the Conference was necessary, their journey was an outing\nfor them and gave them an opportunity to see civilization once more.\nThe Presiding Elder had a buggy, and in this the three friends made the\nmemorable trip. They drove through the wide, dusty prairie and over the\nmountains, for they had to cross the main range of the Rockies. Each\nnight camp was made, and the little wife officiated at the jolly supper\nwhich effaced all memory of the weary traveling.\n\nThe twilight hours were the moments when the ties of friendship were\nstrengthened, and the youthful spirits of the campers prompted many\npranks and contests. As they camped near Idaho Falls one evening the\nsport was to determine which could catch the largest trout. This story\nwill never have a satisfactory ending, for, being a fish story, each\ncaught the largest, and, of course, no bride could decide against her\nhusband. The Sabbath days of the outing were taken by the travelers as\nrest days for the horses, and as refreshing times for their own souls.\nThey reached Salt Lake City in good season, and found Bishop Haven\npresiding over the Conference, and Brother Van\u2019s old friend, Chaplain\nMcCabe, singing his way into the hearts of the people.\n\nConference Sunday came with a rousing sermon by the Bishop. The sermon\nover, these two friends felt a longing to explore. Like culprits they\nstole away in the afternoon and sought the great Mormon tabernacle.\nThey gazed in wonder at the huge building with its queer arched roof\nwhich gave the whole structure the appearance of an inverted soup\ntureen; then they ventured farther to see how it looked on the inside.\nAs usual the Mormons were gathering for their great Sunday service,\nand the two guests from Montana sat down to listen to the famous Mormon\nleader, Brigham Young. The building seats twelve thousand people and\nevery seat was filled.\n\nAfter hearing a sermon sharply in contrast with what they had heard\nfrom their own bishop, the curiosity of these Westerners was not\nsatisfied, so they tarried to examine the building and its surroundings.\nWhen deepening twilight warned them that the time for departure was at\nhand, they sought the entrance gate, but lo, the bars were down and no\nwatchful attendant was there, either to punish the intruders or to let\nthem out.\n\nBrother Van and Dr. Iliff stood and looked at each other and then at\nthe high iron fence. Had they come from scenes of Indian troubles and\nthe hardships of the wide plains to be daunted by such an obstacle\nas an iron gate? Off came preachers\u2019 coats. Hats were flung high over\nthe fence and two agile pioneer ministers climbed over that formidable\nbarrier and dropped down to earth. Then coats and hats were donned, and\nagain these inquisitive friends continued their investigating tour.\n\nThey found themselves walking along Brigham Street on which stood\nAmelia Palace, the residence erected for Young\u2019s favorite wife. As\nthey looked at the building interestedly, they saw the Mormon leader\nhimself pacing the walk and followed by two wives. Again the spirit\nof adventure prompted them and they dared each other to cross the\nstreet, speak to, and shake hands with the august leader of Mormonism.\nNo sooner said than done. In a moment the two men were bowing and\nintroducing themselves as Methodist preachers from the West, and\nproffering eager hands. Brigham Young looked at them with an amused\ntwinkle in his eyes, and cordially shook hands, saying, \u201cI certainly\nam glad to shake hands with you. I was a Methodist once myself!\u201d\n\nThe friendship of these two young missionaries in the new West grew\ndeeper and sweeter with the passing days in their work in Montana. At\none time they held united revival services at Virginia City. They rode\ninto the town unannounced and proceeded to seek a place where they\nmight hold meetings. The old opera house was secured and there they\nbegan their preaching and singing. The people attended out of curiosity\nat first, but a real earnestness came with the passing days, and many\nwere started on the way toward living a new, clean life.\n\nBilly Blay was one of the men who left off his evil habits. The\nevangelists had heard of this notorious drunkard. They went to his\nhut with its dirt roof and floor where the poor sot was huddled in his\nblankets. They talked with him about other ways of living, and prayed\nwith him. He promised to come to church, and to the amazement of the\ntownspeople, Billy Blay not only kept his promise, but he came sober.\nDuring the services he was saved from his sins and took a fresh start\nin life. After realizing that his sins would be forgiven, he said,\n\u201cGive me pen and paper. I want to write to my wife and children in\nWisconsin.\u201d\n\nThat Billy Blay could write was astonishing to the people of the\ntown, who knew him only as a notorious drunkard. Now he wrote like an\neducated man. While he waited for an answer to the letter which broke\na twelve years\u2019 silence, he gave himself into the care of Brother Van\nand Dr. Iliff. He had great natural ability, and he spoke to others\nabout his new experience so effectively that he was at last given an\nexhorter\u2019s license and made a third member of the evangelistic group.\n\nAfter a little time Billy Blay heard from his wife. She was ill, and\nhad believed him to be dead. Money for his journey back home was raised\nin the two institutions of the town that knew him, the church and the\nsaloon, and the family was reunited. This new preacher gave his life to\nmissionary work in a logging-camp in Wisconsin, making another link in\nthe chain of missionary endeavor which will some day bind the world in\na great Christian fellowship.\n\nThis first evangelistic trip made by Brother Van and Dr. Iliff\nmeant much to the new territory of Montana. To-day in making a trip\nthrough the same section, you would travel by rail or automobile, but\neverywhere you would find living monuments of the wise pioneering of\nthese comrade missionaries. Not only new churches, new congregations,\nand new members, but in many cases new towns have sprung up where the\npartners held a first service.\n\nThe two men have always loved to recount the experiences of those\ndays, and especially to tell about their adventure in crossing Madison\nRiver. After the meetings at Virginia City, the two evangelists had\nan itinerary planned ahead. One appointment was at Madison River\nschoolhouse. By the mail to Virginia City had come a precious package\nfrom the East for Dr. Iliff\u2019s wife. This little woman had come to the\nWest gladly with her earnest young husband, but the people at home\nhad distressing thoughts about the frontier hardships that she had\nto endure. There were hardships certainly but of these she never\ncomplained. Now, here was a package from home!\n\nWhen the evangelists got into the buggy which was to carry them to\nthe schoolhouse, the precious bundle was carefully stowed away. They\ntraveled to Madison River, which they had to cross, and found it in\nflood with the melted snow from the mountains. The old bridge had been\nwashed away. So the two young men sat on the edge of the ruins and\ntalked things over.\n\n\u201cShall we give up the trip?\u201d asked Dr. Iliff.\n\n\u201cNo, we can\u2019t do that. The people are expecting us,\u201d said Brother Van.\n\n\u201cWell, let\u2019s try to cross,\u201d replied his chum.\n\nIn they plunged, driving the horses toward the nearest point on the\nopposite bank. When they were about one third of the distance across\nthe river the buggy began to float and the horses began to swim.\n\n\u201cVan, can you swim?\u201d\n\n\u201cNot a lick!\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, you get up on the seat, take that package and keep it dry,\u201d\nshouted Dr. Iliff as he jumped out.\n\nHe unfastened the horses and they swam to an island in the stream. Then\nhe began to guide the floating buggy toward the bank. In the meantime\nBrother Van sat still, holding the bundle aloft that it might not be\nsoaked. When they reached the edge of the flood in safety he deposited\nthe bundle on the seat and climbed out into the water to help push\nthe buggy up the steep bank. Valiantly they pushed. The buggy went up\nslowly and then slid back. Again they boosted and again the slippery\nbanks failed to hold the load.\n\n\u201cVan, you aren\u2019t pushing!\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I am!\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, I\u2019m all played out. Now let us try once more. Now all together!\u201d\n\nThey gave a mighty push and the buggy went over. But, alas! the bundle\nhad slipped out into the water, and as they looked, it was being\nrapidly carried down-stream. Iliff, who was standing on the high bank,\ncalled out, \u201cVan, you\u2019d better get that package. It belongs to my wife.\u201d\n\nIn the dismay of the moment, Brother Van forgot that he didn\u2019t know\nhow to swim. Out he struck. With mighty splashes and flounderings, he\novertook the package and brought it to shore. Then those two preachers\nstood and looked at each other, wet to the skin, hatless and disheveled,\nhands torn and bleeding, sermons no longer dry, and the package\nseemingly ruined. In a moment they burst into boyish laughter, and\nall was well. While they consulted as to the next move, a ranchman\ncame along and took them home with him. From a promiscuous jumble\nof clothing the preachers were outfitted. When they were dressed and\ncame into the light of the room and beheld each other, they laughed\nagain like truant schoolboys. They were comical figures enough in the\nmakeshift garments of that frontier home. They went to church in those\nclothes, and began a revival which meant a great deal to the life of\nthat community.\n\nThe bundle? Oh, that was a fine black silk dress. When the preachers\nreturned to the ranchman\u2019s home, they found their own clothes dry and\nin condition for wearing. The beautiful, lustrous silk found in the\npackage was hung in rich folds about the room to dry. The water in\nMadison River was crystal clear and did not injure the silk, which was\nof good grade.\n\nAn amazing thing about this evangelistic team was that though of the\nEast eastern, yet they won immediate favor with the people among whom\nthey labored. The shrewd Westerners would have detected any insincerity\nin the missionaries, and the cowboy\u2019s mission in life seemed to be to\n\u201cshoot up\u201d anything not genuine. It is hard for us to-day to imagine\nthe wild and lawless life on those lonely plains of the great West.\nThese two men, and many other pioneers for the church, carried on their\nministry in the face of severe handicaps in a frontier region. The\nprincipal difficulties grew out of the isolation of the settlements,\nand the slow means of communication with the older parts of the country.\n\nThe Missouri River provided the natural means of access to the\nNorthwest, and as early as 1851 fire-boats began to reach Fort Benton.\nFor a long period only one boat a year made this hard passage; then\ngold was discovered, and there followed a rush of new settlers, so that\nin 1866, forty steamers came into the old fur-trading post. For a third\nof a century the stage-coach had no rival as the means of travel for\npassengers. One of the most famous stage lines was over Mullen\u2019s Trail,\nwhich ran west from Fort Benton for hundreds of miles. This trail was\nopened through government land by Captain Mullen and his company of\nsoldiers for the use of miners. Holliday\u2019s Overland Stage Line played\nan important part in the development of the West. It ran from Atchison,\nKansas, to Denver, Colorado, and to Salt Lake City, Utah, where other\nlines connected with it. One of these lines extended to Virginia City\nin what had been Brother Van\u2019s district, and from there to Helena,\na distance altogether of nineteen hundred miles, usually covered in\ntwenty-two days.\n\nIn order to secure rapid transportation for the mails, the Pony\nExpress was established in 1861 and maintained for three years. A\nband of swift riders, eighty in number, would cover the vast distances\nof the prairie in an incredibly short space of time. One rider, for\ninstance, would leave Sacramento, while another rider started from\nSt. Joseph, Missouri, at the eastern end of the route. Each would ride\nswiftly and as silently as possible, guarding the precious mail at all\nhazards, and would come, after fifteen to twenty miles of riding, to a\nstation where a fresh horse, saddled and bridled, was held by a waiting\nagent. The riders were allowed two minutes for the change of horses;\nthen on they went over the ever-widening prairie to the next station.\nThe fastest time in which a piece of mail was ever carried was seven\ndays and seventeen minutes.\n\nSometimes the station was found to be but a smoking pile of ruins,\nand sometimes, alas, the station-keeper would be discovered scalped\nby wandering Indians. It is said that only one package was lost in the\nthree years that the Pony Express was operated. This happened when the\nrider was killed after being robbed. Another time, the faithful pony\ncame in along with the package bound safely to the saddle; his rider\nhad been killed as he rode.\n\nOmaha was the nearest railroad station, and to reach this distant city\nmeant a hard journey for the miner who had made his \u201cpile\u201d and wished\nto go back home. Gold dust was the only money and it was weighed and\ntaken at its weight\u2019s value. The traveler could go on horseback or\nwagon to Fort Benton and then take passage on a steamboat to Sioux City,\nIowa. Another method of travel was to follow the trail on horseback to\nSalt Lake City, and take the train or the stage-coach from there. The\ncost of the latter mode of travel can be estimated when it is known\nthat the sending of a letter in that way cost two dollars and a half.\nAll travel was dangerous, for with the finding of gold, desperate men\nhad come west, who robbed and killed for the wealth so hazardously\nsecured by the miners. Hold-ups were regular occurrences, particularly\nbetween Bannack and Virginia City, a distance of seventy miles.\n\nMiners who had spent months of hard labor in the accumulation of a\nfew hundred dollars were never heard of again after starting from a\nmine to a distant home eastward. Men were robbed in camp, daily and\nnightly. Gambling and all forms of evil abounded. Many of the men who\ndisappeared were found to have been shot ruthlessly. The nature of the\ncountry, with its canyons, gulches, and mountain passes, was especially\nadapted to this means of highway robbery. The unpeopled distances\nbetween the mining camps also helped the lawless element to do their\nbloody work. Nowhere else on the face of the earth, nor at any period\nsince men became civilized, have murder, robbery, and social vice\npresented such an organized front.\n\nThe young territory determined to stop this trade of stage-robbing\nand formed a protecting band called the \u201cVigilantes.\u201d The name is\nassociated with some of the bloodiest episodes of frontier days. In the\nabsence of any other protection, the Vigilantes took law into their own\nhands, and dealt sternly with the highway robber and murderer. Between\nDecember, 1863, and February, 1864, twenty-four \u201croad agents\u201d were\nhanged by the Vigilantes for their crimes against the miners. Two years\nlater, one million and five hundred thousand dollars\u2019 worth of gold was\ntaken from Helena to Fort Benton unmolested.\n\nThe early Vigilantes were the best and most intelligent men in the\nmining section. They saw that in the absence of all law they must\nbecome a law unto themselves, or submit to the bloody code of the\ndesperadoes by whom they were surrounded. They entered on their work\nwithout knowing how soon they might have to encounter a force greater\nthan their own. They did their work swiftly and efficiently as\nrelentlessly they followed the offender. Little mercy was meted out\nto the guilty men, and many a lonely tree on the plains held ghastly\nreminders of the swift vengeance which overtook the robbers. The\nVigilantes hung many a hardened sinner, giving him first an opportunity\nto make his peace with God.\n\nLittle by little a change was being wrought in the territory, and the\nmissionaries were helping to bring about a condition of law and order.\nIn this period of transformation, Brother Van was \u201chail fellow well\nmet\u201d with the people. One gambler said, \u201cI like that old scout, he\nplays fair.\u201d His singing helped him to win them, for he would stand\non the hillside and sing, \u201cShall we Gather at the River,\u201d or \u201cOver and\nOver,\u201d and the miners, gamblers, and settlers would come to the service.\n\n  Illustration:   DR. THOMAS C. ILIFF AND BROTHER VAN, WHO HAD MANY\n                  ADVENTURES TOGETHER IN THE OPENING WEST\n\nArriving at a typical mining camp one day, the scout-preacher took\npossession of a new building for a service. It proved to be a saloon\nsuch as he had borrowed before. It was an ordinary occurrence for\nlights to be snuffed out by bullets in a meeting that did not meet with\napproval from the men, but they did not put out the lights when Brother\nVan spoke. They liked his simple, sweet message, and, above all, they\nliked his singing. The song \u201cThe Gospel Train is coming\u201d particularly\npleased them, for the railroad language held new and fascinating words\nin a community which was just growing accustomed to the railroad. One\nof the men said to the preacher, \u201cIf you will sing that song to-morrow\nnight, I\u2019ll bring forty men to hear you.\u201d\n\n\u201cAll right, that\u2019s a bargain,\u201d said the singer.\n\nThis man was a leader of the gang. He had a hurdy-gurdy which made\nhis saloon especially attractive. On the next night forty grizzled men\nmarched in and took their seats. No lights were put out. No disturbance\nwas made by the forty who had reserved seats, but something did happen:\nthat \u201churdy-gurdy\u201d man got on board of the \u201cGospel Train\u201d and brought\nalong a number of his comrades.\n\n\n\n\n                               CHAPTER X\n\n                     GREAT HEART WITH THE INDIANS\n\n\nMANY acts of service rendered to his new brothers on his frequent\nvisits to them had made the Blackfeet Indians know that Brother Van\nwas truly their friend. One incident in particular is now of interest\nto illustrate the character of the red men and the manner in which the\nmissionary won their liking.\n\nOne day when White Plume was chief of the Blackfeet and Piegan tribes,\ncamp was made and the evening meal was prepared. Into this busy and\npicturesque scene came the preacher, and with the aid of an interpreter,\nhe started to speak the good tidings to these people of the plains.\nThe Indians were interested and listened respectfully. Suddenly a\nrunner came quietly but swiftly into the group and uttered an Indian\nword. Instantly the audience dissolved. They went so quickly that the\nastonished preacher inquired of the interpreter as to the reason of\ntheir going. There was reason enough. While these people were listening\nto Brother Van, the Crow Indians, a rival tribe, had come and driven\noff the ponies which had been turned out to graze for the night.\n\nWhen the preacher understood the plight of the Blackfeet, he offered\nhis own fleet pony to them that they might overtake the raiders.\nBrother Van always had a good horse. The herd was easily overtaken and\nturned back to the camp. Then, much to the surprise of Brother Van, the\nIndians returned to the place of meeting and indicated that they wished\nthe service to proceed.\n\nEarly on the following morning a messenger came to Brother Van\ntelling him that the Blackfeet were going on a buffalo hunt, and a\nformal invitation was delivered requesting him to accompany them.\nTaking his sure-footed pony, Brother Van joined the riders, and soon\nthe excitement of their hunt was on. An Indian honor was then conferred\non this, their well-loved guest. After the herd of buffalo was sighted\nand had been started on the run, the Indians signified that the white\nman was to have the distinction of killing the magnificent specimen\nwhich was leading the herd. Riding toward the front of the stampeding\nbeasts, the unskilled marksman picked out the herd leader and shot him\nin the head. It was a great shot. An Indian could have done no better.\nThe herd was a large one, containing nearly one thousand of the great,\nbrown giants of the plains. Once more the preacher by his prowess had\nwon the favor of the Blackfeet.\n\nWith such experiences as the buffalo hunt, an Indian feast, a hurried\nvisit to the bed of the sick or dying, and the preaching of the gospel,\nthe years passed. After serving five years as a missionary at large\nwithout ordination, Brother Van consented to become a Conference Member,\nthat is to say, a regularly ordained traveling-preacher according\nto Conference rules. The first missionary appropriation ever made\nto Montana Conference was given to Brother Van when he became the\nfirst regular supply. That allowance was three hundred and twenty-five\ndollars. He was given the Sun River and Smith River charge as his first\naggressive work in North Montana.\n\nSo the Methodist circuit-rider started out once more on his pony with\nhis little all in his saddle-bags. A journey was still one of many\nhazards, for Indians were everywhere and any sign of fear would have\nbeen fatal, while any weakness would have met with scorn from the\ncowboys. Brother Van visited Sun River, a settlement on the overland\nfreight trail between Helena and Fort Benton, where he organized the\nfirst Methodist church north of the mountains. First, Brother Van\nheld a meeting in this settlement and then started a church building.\nAfterward, he had to rescue the church from the sheriff\u2019s hammer, but,\nfinally, he completed the building\u2015\u2015assuming responsibility for the\nrest of the debt. By and by there came a great day when he preached the\ndedication sermon of a church free from debt.\n\nTo this very settlement at Sun River, the tenderfoot Easterner had come\nwith the Adjutant from Fort Shaw shortly after his arrival in Montana\nseveral years before, and had announced his desire to hold a service.\nThe service had been held in the cabin home of Mr. Charles A. Bull. Now,\nas an experienced plainsman and missionary, Brother Van came again and\nbuilt a church, over which through the busy years since then, he has\nkept loving watch.\n\nIn Philbrook, Judith Basin, Brother Van found that Indians were\nstealing horses and terrifying settlers. Prowling bands of raiders\nwere scattered all through the region. Again the scout-preacher was\nfrequently in danger as he went about his ministry. Riding one day\nalong the bank of the Cut Bank River, he saw a powerful Indian in full\nwar-regalia, making rapidly toward the crossing to which he, too, was\ngoing. Believing that discretion was the better part of valor, Brother\nVan turned his horse into a coulee, and rode hastily into the deep\nshelter of the ravine. From that vantage ground an approaching enemy\nwas at the mercy of the watcher.\n\nThe Indian pursued him to the entrance and then gave up the chase. Had\nhe known that the white man was unarmed, this history might never have\nbeen written, for the Indian was out to get revenge upon the whites,\nand the story of his pursuit afterward created nation-wide interest. It\nis a gruesome story, but has much of value as it reveals some reasons\nfor the Indian traits which our government has not always understood in\nthe past.\n\nThe first scene was enacted when a troop of United States soldiers\nunder Colonel Baker who were quelling Indian troubles, came into an\nIndian village while the braves were out raiding. They laid waste\nthe camp and killed some three hundred women and children. When the\nIndian men returned they found desolation, and, of course, could not\nunderstand the reason. All that they could think of doing was to set\nforth again on a raid of devastation. One big brave, Spoo Pee, made a\nvow to kill the first white man he met, for had not the white men taken\nthe life of his aged mother?\n\nThe other scene was enacted when a Canadian prospector having seen\nenough of western life came down from the North on his way to the\nnearest railway station that he might return to his home in the East.\nHe drove a fine team hitched to a good wagon. As he journeyed he met\ntwo Indians, one a big brave, the other a stripling of a boy. The\nCanadian asked his way. The Indian offered himself as a guide to the\nwealthy traveler and as such was accepted.\n\nA friendship seemed to spring up between the white man and his red\ncompanions as they proceeded. The first camp was made and on the next\nday they were setting forth again when the boy, Good Rider, spied some\ndeer in the distance and asked the loan of a gun that he might bring\nfresh meat for their evening meal. Walmesley, the Canadian traveler,\npromptly loaned him his gun and the boy went on his quest for meat.\nSpoo Pee, the Indian brave, now took his own gun and shot the white man.\nHe threw the body on the muddy bank of the Cut Bank River along which\nthey had been riding.\n\nWith the fine horses in their possession, the two Indians came to Fort\nShaw, a Piegan Agency, where Major Young was in charge. They remained\nover night and then went on. These visitors caused much comment at\nthe agency. Curiosity was aroused because the horses which they were\ndriving were much finer than red men usually had. They were well kept\nand well fed. The second cause for speculation was that the dog which\nhad come with them stayed behind after the departure of the Indians. An\nIndian\u2019s dog is most faithful. He follows in spite of hunger, distance,\nor hardships, but here was a dog which preferred the agency to the\nmaster.\n\nOne day a traveler appeared who reported finding the body of a white\nman on the bank of the Cut Bank River. The Major sent a party to\ninvestigate. Among them was the agency doctor. As the body was examined,\nthe doctor noticed a peculiar scar on the heel of the victim, and he\nexclaimed, \u201cI went swimming with a man once who had a scar exactly\nlike that one. The man\u2019s name was Walmesley.\u201d Detectives were put on\nthe case; Spoo Pee was overtaken, and with the boy, Good Rider, was put\ninto jail. The agency doctor, Major Young, and his daughter became the\nchief witnesses.\n\nMiss Young describes the journey to court in the thirty-below-zero\nweather. As she was almost ready to start for Helena, an old, dirty\nsquaw came to see her, and throwing her arms around Miss Young\u2019s neck,\nimplored her to save her boy. This was Good Rider\u2019s mother. The woman\nwas unwashed and disheveled, because it was the custom of the tribe\nthat no ordinary practise of cleanliness should be observed when\nan individual was in trouble. Miss Young brought Good Rider back to\nhis mother but Spoo Pee was committed to prison. From the day of his\nsentence to jail no word or sound passed Spoo Pee\u2019s lips for twenty\nyears. After a few years he was considered a harmless lunatic and moved,\nfirst to Michigan, and then to an asylum in Washington.\n\nOne day a party of western visitors came into the corridors of the\nasylum. A woman of the party, Mrs. Ella Clark, observed the pathetic,\nblank face of Spoo Pee, and began to speak in an Indian language.\nThe prisoner observed her with something akin to interest. Failing to\nsecure a clearer response from him, the woman began to croon an Indian\nlullaby. She sang as a mother to a child. A look of dazed intelligence\nappeared on the face of the prisoner. Eagerly Mrs. Clark ceased\nher singing and began to speak to him. She told of tribal wars and\nconquests. She repeated traditions held most sacred. The attendants and\nkeepers watched her efforts interestedly. At last from Spoo Pee\u2019s long\nsealed lips there broke an Indian word. The kindly woman\u2019s victory was\ncomplete, and with tears flowing unchecked, Mrs. Clark told the Indian\nof his people.\n\nShe explained to the keeper the reason that the deed had been committed;\nhow Spoo Pee had returned to his village on that dreadful day and had\nfound the women all slain. The prisoner told of his strange vow and\nof the long silent years. Spoo Pee was pardoned and he returned to his\ntribe but only sorrow was his lot. New and strange customs had arisen\nsince he had gone away. His family had become scattered. He could not\nlearn the new ways, and he pined for the friends who had gone. In two\nyears the broken spirit of the red man went to its long rest.\n\nIt was this revengeful warrior that Brother Van had met at the river\ncrossing, but danger held no terrors for him, and that night in the\ncoulee, near the scene of the tragic murder of the Canadian prospector,\nhe took the saddle from his pony, pillowed his head on it, and slept\npeacefully with the stars smiling down on him. God\u2019s protection was\nwith the man who had a vision of the life of peace and righteousness\nwhich could come to the West only through the gospel that it was his\nprivilege to preach.\n\nThe Epworth Piegan Mission is ministering to these Indians to-day\nunder the leadership of one of Brother Van\u2019s \u201cboys,\u201d Rev. A. W. Hammer,\nwho, with his talented wife, is continuing the service begun many years\nago. Mr. Hammer is peculiarly fitted for this task because he knows the\nhabits and language of the people. He was but a youth when he went west\nto the plains of Texas as a cowboy in 1877. Later he came to Montana\nand worked on a ranch not far from Chinook. He craved the opportunity\nto enjoy the finer pleasures of life, and when a literary society was\nstarted at Chinook, he rode in from the ranch to attend it.\n\nOne night the meeting place was deserted. Everybody was at the revival\nmeeting. Taking his pal with him, Hammer went to have some fun. They\nsat on the back seat and made flippant remarks about the meeting, but\nconfessed to each other that they liked the preacher\u2019s singing. The\nnext night found them on that same back seat. A change came to young\nHammer in this meeting and he altered his manner of life. He joined\nthe church and took charge of the Sunday-school. He was later given a\npreacher\u2019s license. Then he began to want an education that he might\nwork for his Master more acceptably. He attended school and college and\nwent back to the range to ride and to serve as a shepherd of people,\ninstead of as a cowboy. His life exemplifies the ideal missionary to\nthe Indians.\n\nIn Brother Van\u2019s new district were the famous great falls of the\nMissouri, which Lewis and Clarke had heard roaring in the distance as\nthey pushed across the plains. Perplexed as to the cause of the strange\nsound that rolled to them over the lifeless prairies, they traveled\nseven miles before they reached the spot where the great river takes\nits tremendous plunge. The magnitude of the falls astonished them\nbeyond measure. The largest falls were given separate names later and\nbecame known as Great Falls, Rainbow Falls, and Crooked Falls. It is\nclaimed by local residents that the water in Crooked Falls runs in\nevery direction, even upstream. Great power-plants are built along the\nriver at this point, and they produce power second only to Niagara.\n\nWhen Brother Van reached the settlement of Great Falls on his first\nvisit, it was nothing but a great undeveloped possibility. \u201cHere we\nmust have a church,\u201d said this apostle of first things. An ambitious,\nfar-seeing group of men constituting the Townsite Company was\ninterviewed. They gave several lots to the enthusiastic dreamer of a\ngreater day for Montana. With the assured membership of two devoted\nsouls and the gift of land, a church was started.\n\nIs this record of \u201cfirst things\u201d beginning to make you dizzy? Does\nthe recounting make you weary? But suppose you were the missionary!\nThrough heat and cold, through drought and rain, over green prairie and\nbleak desert, you would have to travel. You would have met plainsmen\nand Indians, friends and foes. You would have endured hunger and\nthirst. You would have rested under the stars on the open prairie and\nin the rude shelter afforded by the ranchmen\u2019s bunks. You would have\nbeen obliged to be the leader in the building of first churches and\nfirst parsonages. All this costs energy and vitality, as Brother Van,\nseemingly tireless though he was, once discovered.\n\n   Illustration:  BROTHER VAN WAS \u201cHAIL FELLOW WELL MET\u201d WITH THE\n                  PEOPLE\n\nOne day death seemed about to claim the scout-missionary. He was very\nweary and very ill, for mountain fever had him in its firm hold. Then\nhow the little churches rallied to their friend! After much praying and\nafter careful nursing, he was sent on a vacation that he might get well.\nThis was the only sick leave that he has ever had. Forty-five years\nBrother Van has spent with his \u201cshoulder against the horizon.\u201d He has\npushed the frontier back and back, and in all those years he has never\nbeen ill but once; then nature demanded a rest.\n\nLeaving his friends greatly concerned over his condition, Brother Van\nwent to Seattle, Washington, to recuperate. That rest period turned\nout to be something of a joke. In an old record of the Battery Street\nChurch in Seattle, there is an entry showing that certain meetings were\nheld in the church at this time, and noting that the evangelist was\nW. W. Van Orsdel. He had gone away in October. In December he was back\nin Montana holding revival meetings from Helena to Glendive, a distance\nof two hundred and forty miles.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER XI\n\n                      BROTHER VAN AND NEW MONTANA\n\n\nTHE building of railroads through the state of Montana brought a rapid\ndevelopment. The section around Great Falls became a prosperous farming\ncountry. The settlement, therefore, formed a new center for the church,\nand Brother Van came to this district, not as a missionary at large,\nnor junior preacher, nor circuit-rider this time, he came now as a\npresiding elder, or district superintendent for all of that part of\nMontana east of the Rocky Mountains and north of the Musselshell River.\nIt was known as the North Montana Mission and was about five twelfths\nof the total area of the state. Let us get some idea concerning this\nnew work with which Brother Van was busy by making a comparison.\nThe whole of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island,\nConnecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and the District of\nColumbia could be placed within the bounds of the district and still\nleave four thousand square miles of territory.\n\nIn all this area there were three hundred and fifty-five members of\nBrother Van\u2019s church and fifty-three probationers. There were ten\nchurch buildings altogether. This property was valued at twenty-five\nthousand dollars. There were four parsonages valued at four thousand\ndollars. The twenty Sunday-schools had a membership of nine hundred\nand twenty-five. The ten preachers received five thousand, six hundred\nand fifty-one dollars a year, or an average of five hundred and sixty\ndollars each. The churches gave four hundred and seventy-six dollars to\nbenevolences.\n\nMany of the people whom Brother Van now served came from Eastern homes\nand were familiar with ideals of culture and refinement. They had cut\nloose from the East with its old associations and conventionalities,\nand had come to face a new life on the frontier so full of promise.\nImagine a town of two thousand inhabitants composed of people from\nevery state in the Union, and from every civilized country in the world,\nof every color, race, and creed, speaking fifteen or twenty languages,\nand clinging to varying religious beliefs, and you will then have an\nidea of a mining town such as Brother Van found as he traveled through\nhis district. The West was still, however, the easy prey for evil,\nand at every crossroad and station could be seen the sign, \u201cSaloon and\nLicensed Gambling.\u201d The gamblers and saloon men were leading citizens,\nand they had to be reckoned with. Brother Van had been a prohibitionist\nalways. He had seen the effect of alcohol in his boyhood days,\nespecially in the oil regions. As he grew all too familiar with the\ndreadful fire-water which demoralized and beggared the Indians whom he\nsought to emancipate, a new hatred of the vile stuff took possession\nof him.\n\nThe Rev. George Logan tells a story of Brother Van as district\nsuperintendent which illustrates the spirit of comradeship that he\nshares with all men, even the saloon men and gamblers. On one Sunday\nmorning Mr. Logan asked for a good collection to make up the district\nsuperintendent\u2019s salary, saying, \u201cIf I don\u2019t get it this morning, I\u2019ll\ncome again tonight.\u201d The collection was not big enough, and true to his\nword the second collection was asked for. One man put a stack of six\nsilver dollars on the plate and so the amount received was sufficient\nto make up the sum required for the unpaid salary.\n\nGoing down town next day Mr. Logan met the man of the silver dollars,\nwho with a grin asked, \u201cDid you raise Brother Van\u2019s money last night?\u201d\n\n\u201cI did,\u201d was the pastor\u2019s reply.\n\n\u201cDid you notice that stack of silver dollars on the plate?\u201d\n\n\u201cI did,\u201d said Mr. Logan again.\n\n\u201cWell, I\u2019ll tell you a story if you\u2019ll promise not to get angry about\nit.\u201d\n\n\u201cI promise,\u201d said the preacher.\n\n\u201cTwo men at the service on Sunday morning remembered afterward that\nBrother Van\u2019s salary was short, and they agreed to play for the money\nin the afternoon. If A. won, the money was to be Brother Van\u2019s; if B.\ndid, Brother Van lost. Word went around and the saloon filled with\nsports to watch the game. If A. won, the crowd yelled, \u2018The Lord gets\nthat!\u2019 and if B. was lucky, \u2018That goes to the devil!\u2019\u201d\n\nA. had won, and the unsuspecting District Superintendent\u2019s salary was\npaid by the successful gambler. Mr. Logan looked the narrator in the\neye, and said, \u201cI\u2019m so glad I got that money; it has been in the hands\nof the devil long enough. Brother Van will put it to a better use.\u201d\n\nIt was through many unique incidents and strange experiences that\nBrother Van\u2019s work was built up. Steadily the character of the country\nchanged and another generation was growing up. Stalwart sons and\ndaughters of the settlers began to try to win a means of education in\nthe desert. They looked beyond the shining mountains to college and to\nseminary. As Brother Van traveled from place to place he pondered over\nthis problem. No children of his own will look to him for education,\nbut had he not claimed spirituality in this wide land for the children?\nHe saw that the boys and girls were eager for larger social privileges\nand for a higher intellectual life; so he decided that Montana should\nhave a Christian school. For thirteen years he toiled to secure one;\nother men\u2019s names appeared on the committee formed for the enterprise\nand in time disappeared, but the name of William Wesley Van Orsdel\nalways headed the list. He was not an educated man as far as the study\nof books was concerned. Only in the School of Experience and in the\nSeminary of Hard Knocks had he taken postgraduate courses. But he was\nnow determined that the young people of Montana should have first, a\nChristian influence, and, second, an education.\n\nBecause of that thinking, planning, and praying of the missionary,\nthere came a day when the capital city, Helena, had a new asset. Five\nmiles from the center of the town stood a fifty-thousand-dollar brick\nbuilding dedicated to the young people of Montana. The campus of\ntwo hundred and thirty-five acres was beautified, and the school was\nopened. The distance from town, the newness of the undertaking, the\nindifference of the people, all proved insurmountable difficulties\nto every one but Brother Van. For ten years the school struggled to\nsucceed while the trustees felt almost constantly that they must close\nit, but Brother Van would not consent. Then a radical measure was\nadopted. The school was moved to Helena, where to-day Montana Wesleyan\nUniversity stands in friendly neighborliness to the capitol building.\nMontana Wesleyan antedated all state schools in Montana for higher\neducation.\n\nBrother Van watched those two buildings on Capitol Hill with a\npeculiar yearning. He remembered the town of Helena as it had looked\nwhen he reached it on that summer day in 1872. He remembered the\nfirst capitol building in Bannack, where it was his lot to bury the\nfour plainsmen who had lost their lives because the Indians could not\nunderstand the coming of the white man into their hunting ground. The\nfirst legislature was held in two rooms in a log cabin. Tallow candles\nemphasized the gloom. Sheet-iron stoves made the pent-up air seem\nstifling. One desk and a bench in each room completed the furnishing of\nthis first capitol. The library was composed of one copy of the Idaho\nStatutes.\n\nOn February 22, 1889, Montana became a state and Helena became the\ncapital. Helena of Last Chance Gulch fame had grown rapidly, as its\neastern seekers of gold became housed in cabins, wickiups, shacks, and\ntents. Helena became a wicked city, where Sunday was the wildest day of\nthe wild week. Then came a period of reconstruction. Schools were built,\nimposing sites were sought for churches; the dugout school disappeared\nfrom the prairie, and in its place came the little red schoolhouse. The\nfirst public school had been opened on March 5, 1866, in Virginia City.\nThere were no text-books. Every child brought any book he might possess.\nNow schools were becoming common in Montana. Daily papers were needed\nand in place of the Montana _Post_ which had been published in the\ncellar of a log cabin in Virginia City and dates from May, 1868, came\nthe Montana _Record Herald_.\n\nMontana had a state pride and no man could surpass Brother Van as\nhe sang the praises of his adopted state. As civilization progressed\nthe new State-house now standing on Capitol Hill was needed. This\nwas a thrilling time in the life of the young state. When the\nimposing building was completed and ready to be dedicated, Montana\u2019s\nrepresentatives gathered and stood with bared heads as Brother Van\noffered this prayer:\n\n\u201cO thou God of our fathers, we draw near to thee in the name of thy\nSon, our Saviour, to acknowledge the many blessings of which we are\nthe recipients, on this our nation\u2019s birthday; the day when this was\ndeclared to be a free and independent nation, and which now stands\nout among the nations as a star of the first magnitude. O God, may\nthy presence ever abide with our nation. We invoke thy blessing on our\nPresident, and those associated with him in directing the affairs of\nthe nation.\n\n\u201cWe are here in this great new commonwealth, pioneer men and women,\nwho came here in the earlier settlements and opened up the way for\nsuccess; we are here to-day with our children and associates to\nhonor the state and thee. We are here to dedicate and set apart this\nmagnificent building, this capitol building, to the purpose for which\nit was built. Let thy blessing rest on the exercises of this hour. May\nthy blessing rest on the government of the state, the officers, the\ncapitol commission, and all who have been associated with the planning\nand completing of the building.\n\n\u201cLet thy blessing be upon our representatives, on both houses of\ncongress, on state senators and legislators, who shall meet in this\nhouse from time to time. May we all realize that great is that people\nwhose God is the Lord. May we flee evil. Amen.\u201d\n\nThe walls of the Senate Chamber of that great building are adorned with\npaintings done by Mr. Charles Russell, who came to Montana in 1881 and\nachieved fame as the cowboy artist. No creation of his brain or brush\never exploits any theme but Montana and the West. The modern home of\nMr. Russell is at Great Falls and in the spacious grounds surrounding\nit stands a log cabin. Let us visit it with Brother Van, who is an\nold-time friend of the owner.\n\n  Illustration:   Painting by Charles M. Russell.\n\n                  RIDING TOWARD THE FRONT OF THE STAMPEDING BEASTS,\n                  BROTHER VAN SHOT THE HERD LEADER IN THE HEAD\n\nThe porch has no board floor and is low, so we can see the roof strewn\nwith buffalo horns and skulls. On the stockade-door the latch-string\nhangs out, and it means just that, a true Western hospitality. We pull\nthe string, the latch lifts, and we stand in the presence of the cowboy\nartist. He looks both cowboy and artist. His long hair is thrown back\nfrom a strong and sun-browned face, and this suggests the artist; so\ndoes the scarlet sash that he wears. His flannel shirt is open at the\nthroat, and his Khaki trousers are thrust into high boots, showing the\nhabit of the cowboy.\n\nAround that interesting room is a record of the history of Montana.\nWar-bonnets and tomahawks hang from pegs. In a rack are rifles\nwhich tell the story of firearm progress from the flintlock to the\nSpringfield, and then to the Winchester. Indian beads, rugs, baskets,\nand blankets form a wealth of color on the walls, and before a great\nfireplace stands an easel, and lo, the artist is telling our story in\na finer way. There are the figures of Lewis and Clarke on the canvas.\nAn Indian village is in the background, and in the center we recognize\nthe woman guide, Sacajawea. She is meeting her childhood friend who had\nbeen taken prisoner when she was.\n\nAs he watched Montana develop with the anxiety that a father gives\nto the growth of an awkward, beloved boy, Brother Van saw a new need.\nAlways had he ministered to sick and dying miners, cowboys, and\nsettlers. But as the years passed he saw that it would be a great\nadvantage to the state if the sick and dying could be cared for with\nall the help that modern medical science affords. He realized the\nnecessity of placing patients under religious influence and teaching.\nThe cure of souls was to him even more important than the cure of\nbodies; so he began to talk and to pray for a Christian hospital.\nProbably fifty thousand dollars has passed through Brother Van\u2019s hands\nin the time he has served Montana, but he owns no home or cattle. Even\nthe pony is no more and a Ford is not its successor. The salary for his\nfirst year\u2019s work was nothing, and for the second it was seventy-five\ndollars. In later years he received seventeen hundred dollars. Yet\nevery Protestant enterprise has had an impetus from Brother Van\u2019s\npocketbook.\n\nHe interested his church in the need of a hospital, and deaconesses\nwere brought west and a hospital was started. Every one but the prime\nmover became discouraged by the hardships that the project encountered,\nbut he continued to sing, to pray, to praise Montana, and to work\nfor Montana. In Great Falls now stands a beautiful hospital, entirely\nfireproof and modern in every convenience. In the hall of the building\nhangs a painting. It is a western scene, and shows a man riding\nfuriously toward the leader of a herd of buffalo; Indians ride behind\nas interested spectators to the shooting of the large beast. The\ninscription below is \u201cBrother Van shooting buffalo,\u201d and it illustrates\nthe story already told. The artist is Charles M. Russell.\n\nAcross the street is the Van Orsdel Home where white-capped and\nswift-footed nurses reside, and this is the story of the building.\nOnce upon a time some gamblers, cowboys, and saloon men decided that\nthey, too, wanted to tell Brother Van that they wished him well. He\nhad fought the saloon with a zeal that could not be misunderstood, but\nhe fought fairly. He hated the business and told its supporters so in\nno mincing language; but he didn\u2019t hate the men and they knew that.\nThey decided to raise one thousand dollars and give it to him that\nhe might buy a home of his own, or that he might have the money to do\nas he wished. The fund was started. At first it grew slowly and then\nby bounds. It was put in a bank and as time went by the deposit was\nforgotten. A gambler, who was on his death-bed, wanted to see Brother\nVan. He answered the call at once, and was able to help the dying\nman hear from the Master, \u201cThy sins are forgiven thee.\u201d In his last\nmoments the man told about the money that was lying in the bank and\naccumulating interest. Brother Van drew it out and soon a nurses\u2019 home\nwas started.\n\nWithin the walls of the Van Orsdel Home is a home life of rare culture\nand beauty. Many girls are sheltered and trained there who were brought\nto the pioneer preacher as infants twenty years earlier that he might\nlay hands on them in baptism. At the beginning of each school year\nof the Nurses\u2019 Training School, Brother Van greets those uniformed\nstudents with encouraging words and with a tender appeal for loyalty\nto the Master whom he serves.\n\nOne of Brother Van\u2019s enterprises seemed not to be of God\u2019s planning.\nThat was the original home of Montana Wesleyan, five miles from\nHelena. People spoke of the neglected building as a mistake and an\nexpensive failure. Boys threw stones through every pane of glass in\nthe three-story building. A family of lively coyotes occupied the big\ndining-room; bats took up their abode in the dark corners; spiders spun\ntheir webs unhindered over the ceiling, and owls seemingly joined the\nscoffers in their derision of the enterprise. Occasionally a solitary\nfigure would come into the building and kneeling in the dust, would\nimplore God to give him a reason against the prevalent unbelief. He\nwould ask God to use these buildings for his own service, and for the\nChristian uplift of young people. Surely there was some use for them.\nThe years passed, and this solitary figure began to see another need\nfor his cherished Montana. The young people had long since been coming\nto the university on Capitol Hill, but in the wide expanses of the\nstate there were yet many children unschooled. There were orphans to\nbe protected, and other children too far from the district school for\ndaily attendance. These became a new and dear care to Brother Van.\n\n  Illustration:   THE VAN ORSDEL HOME FOR NURSES IS ONE OF THE MANY\n                  INSTITUTIONS FOUNDED BY BROTHER VAN\n\nAgain the old pocketbook made a beginning. As the hard-earned money\nwent for the house-cleaning a gift came to Brother Van; a grateful\nranchman presented him with a cow. It was driven promptly to the two\nhundred-and-thirty-five-acre campus which surrounded the neglected\nbuilding out by Helena, so that the few children he might gather there\nshould be fed. The building, so recently the home of the bats and the\ncoyotes, was cleaned and repaired and put in readiness for its first\npupil, a child whom a dying mother committed to the care of Brother Van.\nOthers needing school advantages were found and placed in the renovated\nbuilding. The title page of the first _Annual_ published by the\nstudents of this school of faith is inscribed: \u201cTo Brother Van as an\nexpression of love from the class of 1915.\u201d\n\nNot all the time was Brother Van building churches. There are one\nhundred churches in Montana built by him, and about fifty parsonages\ndue to his labors, besides six hospitals and two large institutions of\nlearning, but there is another piece of work which he has been doing\nbetween times for the church he loves. Since 1876 he has represented\nthe Methodist Church of Montana in the denomination\u2019s great governing\nbody, the General Conference. At the meeting at Saratoga Springs in\n1916, one evening was given over to the two friends, Dr. Thomas C.\nIliff and Brother Van. They recounted the struggles and triumphs\nof their western life, and sang the old songs which had carried\ninspiration to the people of the west.\n\nA few years ago Brother Van made a long trip across the country and\ncame again to Gettysburg, where, as a boy, fifty-four years before,\nhe had witnessed that great battle. A large part of the land where the\nbattle was fought has been bought by the United States government, and\nthe government and the states spent seven million dollars in erecting\nthe memorials that do honor to the men who fell in those July days of\n1863. Brother Van saw again the house in which President Lincoln was\nentertained when he made that memorable address familiar to-day to\nevery schoolboy and schoolgirl. He recalled how he had gone to seek\nthe sad-faced man. He had come into his presence a towsled, barefoot,\nawkward boy, and with new appreciation he remembered how that great\nman had shaken hands with him. Since then other presidents have shaken\nhands with the boy grown into a missionary. Grant, Roosevelt, and Taft\nhave all done honor to the man so well loved in Montana.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER XII\n\n                          SEVENTY YEARS YOUNG\n\n\nTHE haze of Indian summer hangs over the prairies of Montana as they\nflaunt their golden flowers. There could be no more perfect days than\nthese for a journey with Brother Van through the great state. One might\nalmost call it his parish, so closely has he been associated with the\nsettlement and growth of vast stretches of its territory. He shall be\nour guide as we visit the widely scattered villages and thriving towns,\nwhere he is eagerly welcomed by men, women, and children of all faiths\nand of none. There are no strangers to Great Heart of the Indians.\nBrother Van greets every one he meets with the Indians\u2019 guttural\n\u201cOi-Oi-Oi,\u201d meaning \u201cHow do you do!\u201d When we ask why he always uses the\nexpression, he replies, \u201cOh, just to show that I\u2019m a friendly Indian.\u201d\n\nWe start our trip at Fort Benton, where, in a well kept park, stand\nthe ruins of the old fort, a crumbling relic of days forever past.\nThe stockade is gone and only a blockhouse remains. It is carefully\nguarded, for inside are precious relics of the past. Let us stand on\nthe very spot where Brother Van celebrated his first Fourth of July\nin Montana by eating a dinner of jerked buffalo meat. Our eyes sweep\nthe horizon and we try to imagine the scenes of former days when over\nthose flashing waters of the Missouri came bull-boats or birch canoes,\nbringing precious furs to the Northwest Fur Company\u2019s post.\n\nIn the town itself we pass the site of the old mud saloon where, on\nthat far-away Sunday, the tenderfoot missionary preached to a curious\nthrong. What of the church life of to-day? We spend a Sabbath in the\nhistoric town and go to the old mother church. It is a small building,\nsimple in style, but we enter it in a spirit of reverence. Repairs are\nin progress; with his own hands the minister, a college and seminary\ngraduate, has painted the woodwork and papered the walls. He has been\naided in the evenings by the earnest men of his congregation.\n\nThe days of the Northwest Fur Company seem very remote when the new\ngeneration, with a small group from the older one, kneel to receive\nHoly Communion. The life of the trapper and trader, starved and godless,\nseems a haunting and an impossible dream. Yet the pastor has his\nproblems. His church must be enlarged and modernized to meet the social\ndemands of the little city. He must find means for providing recreation\nand wholesome entertainment in connection with the church, so that the\npeople of the community may not have to depend for their amusement on\nthe cheap \u201cmovie\u201d theater with its sensuous appeals. He must travel\nfar out on the wide prairie to care for the ranchers who are setting up\nhomes in these lands that under new methods of cultivation are proving\nto be far more fruitful than it was once considered possible for them\nto be.\n\nThe scout-missionary is still keen about first churches, and we\naccompany him on a visit to a little town near Fort Benton. We go to\nthe schoolhouse. We are early; so we will play janitor. The bell is\nto be rung. The songbooks are to be distributed. Brother Van does not\npreach this time, but his influence is felt all through the service. He\nstands in the closing moments and urges upon the people a new loyalty\nto Jesus Christ and a new loyalty to the church as the center of their\ncommon life. All who will so pledge are asked to come and take him by\nthe hand, and every man, woman, and child in the little group comes\nforward. Among them are three soldiers, guards in the uncertain days\nof war of the big bridge which swings over the Teton River at the\noutskirts of the town.\n\nOne of Brother Van\u2019s churches is in process of building in this town.\nYou may smile at its dimensions. It has one main room and a basement\nwhich is to be cut up into smaller social rooms.\n\n\u201cWell, Brother Van, when is it to be finished?\u201d he is asked.\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t know, Sister!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy not finish it right away?\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019d love to, but not one cent of debt is to be placed on this or on\nany other church I have anything to do with.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut, can these few people build this church?\u201d\n\n\u201cThey can and will, with the help of the Board of Home Missions.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh, if people only knew the need of home missions, we would not have\nto see these churches which we try to put in the new centers struggle\nand languish as they do,\u201d he adds.\n\n\u201cWhy try to have a church so soon, then?\u201d\n\n\u201cAh, Sister, that is the point. We must claim these new towns for our\nChrist. The devil has his agents at work in the saloon and dance halls.\nWhy should we give up to him?\u201d\n\nIn that distant time when Brother Van made his first visit to the\nIndian agency, he traveled in an army post wagon. As we seek the\nBlackfeet Indians, we travel with him on a railroad train. His vivid\nstories of the towns through which we pass make us realize how much the\nfrontier owes to missionary influence. Brother Van gets off at every\nstation to look around.\n\n\u201cSee that church house,\u201d he exclaims proudly, for he always calls it\nthat. \u201cIsn\u2019t it beautiful?\u201d\n\nIt is small and in need of paint. Compared, however, to the saloon\nbuilding in which he had probably held the first service, it is\nbeautiful.\n\n  Illustration:   GREAT HEART WITH A BLACKFOOT BROTHER AND HIS FAMILY\n\n\u201cBrowning! Browning!\u201d calls the conductor. Nothing here but a small\nstation.\n\n\u201cThis way, Brother Van,\u201d calls a voice from the starlit darkness, and\nsoon we are on our way to the Indian reservation and the parsonage home\nof Rev. A. W. Hammer, the cowboy preacher. A cheerful welcome awaits\nus in the little prairie home. Here in the shadow of the snow-clad\nmountains is symbolized the Montana dreamed about by the boy from\nGettysburg. A home has been established. A trained preacher ministers\nto the Indians.\n\nOn the following morning we find spread out before us a scene of\nrich beauty as we look across the fields from which the grain has been\nharvested. All the members of the household gather in front of the\ncottage where there stands a straight mountain pine, carefully trimmed\nand braced. From a home-made cabinet the oldest daughter has taken a\ncarefully folded bundle, and now at her bidding it is fastened to the\nropes swaying from the pine tree. A steady pull brings Old Glory up\nto catch the breeze while the shining mountains seem to smile approval.\nThe son places his hat over his heart, while Brother Van, his head\nbared, his face transfigured, sings, \u201cO say can you see by the dawn\u2019s\nearly light\u201d and girlish voices catch up the refrain. No flag raising\nin the presence of statesmen and of armies could be more impressive.\nHere one sees the loyal soul of the west laid bare. This is the America\nthat the forces of the Christian church, the Christian home, and the\nChristian school are building on the vast plains and through the\nmountain valleys of the younger states.\n\nThe drive to the church in a lumber wagon is a novel experience, and we\nunderstand why fur overcoats are called \u201clife preservers,\u201d for the air\ngives a foretaste of the winter\u2019s cold. The congregation of Indians,\nplainsmen, business men, and college graduates gathers. The Indians\ninterest us the most. These are the adopted brothers of Great Heart.\nThese are the people whom William Van Orsdel loved before he had seen\nthem and whom he had left the old Gettysburg home to serve. He has seen\ndisease, ignorance, and intemperance threatening to wipe out the race,\nand he has had to give a large part of his energy to teaching a better\nway of life to the white man who is so largely responsible for the\nconditions that exist; but he has persevered in finding ways to help\nhis red brothers.\n\nIn the United States there are now three hundred and thirty-six\nthousand Indians; nearly one third of these are unchurched. There are\nmany who have no opportunity to know the living God, yet they were\nthe first Americans. Their loyalty was proved when nine thousand young\nbraves entered the army and navy to fight for a world democracy, and\none third of those entered the service through enlistment. These wards\nof the nation, though driven back from wide prairie to reservations,\nhave been taught trades and agriculture. Twenty million dollars\nworth of Liberty Bonds were bought by Indians. The war has given the\nIndian an opportunity to show his fine qualities of manhood, and to\ndemonstrate his fitness for those privileges of citizenship which have\nbeen denied him. Hereafter, too, this native American will be a citizen\nof the world. \u201cThey have learned to step to the drum-beat of democracy,\u201d\nsays Hon. Cato Sells, \u201cand they will come out of the conflict an\nelement of real and progressive strength in our National life.\u201d Like\nmany others who have fought abroad, they will ask the churches and\nschools to put into practise the principles that they defended \u201cover\nthere.\u201d\n\nThe teachers to succeed Brother Van, Mr. Hammer, and all of that host\nof devoted workers who have given their whole lives for the building of\na Christian civilization in the west must come from the young people of\nthe church. Young men and young women of the new generation must have\na vision clear enough to see the beckoning hands that point the way\nto great unfinished tasks. The high purpose of the boy from Gettysburg\nmust fill other lives that will take up the new tasks, as hard as the\nold, perhaps harder, which the changing times have brought to Montana.\n\nLeaving the Indians, we find ourselves on the railroad and bound\nfor the new frontier. The monotony of the prairie is only relieved\nby homes and schoolhouses but these appear at intervals as we travel.\nOccasionally we pass small towns clustering around grain elevators,\nwhich show the new day of agriculture. We come at last to the end of\nour journey to the new section and from the small station we drive to\na settler\u2019s shack on a claim. Surely tales of frontier life have been\nexaggerated, for here are warmth, blooming plants, books, and papers.\nThe homesteader is a retired preacher.\n\n\u201cWe must get the surveyor while you are here, Brother Van, and mark up\nthat lot for the church,\u201d says our host.\n\n\u201cA church out on this prairie!\u201d we exclaim.\n\n\u201cYes, do you see yonder that grain elevator and a few buildings?\nThat is a new town starting and we must have a church. A saloon and a\npool-room are there already. The storekeeper has given us a lot for the\nchurch,\u201d he explains.\n\nThis is a wise merchant who realized that the new town would not be fit\nfor his family unless the church was the central interest. With pick\nand compass we go; Brother Van steps off the distance, and the faithful\npick finds the marker.\n\n\u201cThe corner-stone will be right here,\u201d says the master of ceremonies.\nThe spade is stuck into the rich soil while the people cheer; but\nBrother Van is silent; his latest church is being started. He is\nanxious that the children of the new town shall have a chance of a\nChristian education. The government will see to the schoolhouses, but\nthe responsibility of the churches rests on Brother Van and his aids,\neven on you and me.\n\nWe continue our sight-seeing tour of Montana and reach Helena at a\ntime when the city is thronged with visitors to the Fair. Yonder is\nthe Capitol, and in friendly nearness is a smaller building; it is\nMontana Wesleyan University where college is opening. Brother Van has\na tumultuous greeting. The Board of Trustees has just declared for a\nfifty-thousand-dollar enlargement of the institution. The students and\nPresident Sweetland are riotously happy. Visitors make speeches in the\nchapel. One man does not need the well-chosen introductory speech from\nthe new president. He is not allowed to finish it.\n\n\u201cWho\u2019s all right?\u201d sings out a yell-leader.\n\n\u201cBrother Van! Brother Van!\u201d comes roaring back from the eager crowd.\n\nNo mention is made by the pioneer of his part in the enterprise which\nhas made the Christian education of these eager students possible. When\nhe finishes speaking, a demand is made: \u201cA song! A song!\u201d So he sings\n\u201cDiamonds in the Rough\u201d for them. Then we hasten to a meeting of the\nBoard of Trustees, and arrive in time, for Brother Van is never late\nfor an engagement.\n\n\u201cNow, let\u2019s go to the Fair!\u201d he says. To go to the Montana State Fair\nwith Brother Van is to become almost as much a center of interest as\nthe prize pumpkin or the heaviest sheaf of wheat. The hold the man has\non the people of the state begins to dawn on you.\n\n\u201cHello, Van, old scout.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, Brother Van, how is the church at \u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015?\u201d\n\n\u201cIsn\u2019t this Brother Van?\u201d ask children, shyly, as we pass.\n\nOut in the enclosure a flag is to be raised. They send a messenger to\nBrother Van to say that he is wanted to offer the prayer. After the\nprayer, Governor Stewart is introduced, and the heart of the Eastern\nvisitor is stirred to hear from him how great a part this new state\ntook in the great world struggle for democracy; how great an outpouring\nof its wealth there was for the needs of the government and for the\nrelief of suffering; and how large a number of the boys from these\nthinly peopled plains left their homes to take their places in the\nranks of the armies of freedom.\n\nIt is a short drive over to the once owl-haunted, coyote-inhabited\nbuilding, which for a time seemed to be Brother Van\u2019s mistake.\nChildren\u2019s voices call a glad greeting, for now it is the Montana\nDeaconess School. Out on the campus is an old building which the boys\nhave fitted up, and which they dignify by the name of \u201cgym.\u201d Class\nwork which meets the regular school standards is done in this home,\nbut that is only a part of its work. The development of strong, helpful\nChristian character is the great task to which the earnest teachers who\nlabor here are devoting themselves.\n\nNow we visit the Capitol, a beautiful building of which the young\nstate is justly proud. We go directly to the Governor\u2019s suite and find\na delegation of citizens there waiting to consult him. The attendant\nsmiles on one member of our party and then disappears. We resign\nourselves for a long wait, but immediately the messenger returns.\n\u201cThe Governor will see you, Brother Van,\u201d he says. We then have the\nprivilege of listening to a conference between the pioneer missionary\nand modern Montana\u2019s chief man of affairs.\n\nIt is near Helena that Last Chance Gulch is situated and the city still\npresents the problems of a mining center. In the old days the miners\ncame without families. They lived the hard, rough life of the pioneers.\nMany were only adventurers. They gambled, and even killed for the lure\nof gold. Yet it was they who found and developed the mines which have\nfurnished so large a share of Montana\u2019s wealth\u2015\u2015and that of the nation.\n\nNot only gold, but silver, copper, lead, coal, and iron are found.\nEspecially rich are the fields of copper, and since 1892, Montana has\nbeen the leading state in the production of this metal. Great smelting\nand refining plants costing millions of dollars have been established\naround which thriving cities have quickly grown. In the maze of\nstacks, mills, ore-dumps, tracks, and surrounding streets filled with\nthe cottages of the laborers, the visitor who has been to the new\nsettlements on the plains and to the reservations sees a different\nMontana\u2015\u2015not that of the rancher and the Indians but that of the\nindustrial worker.\n\nWe have an enthusiastic guide when we travel through the mining regions\nwith Brother Van. He keeps the spirit of the pioneer. While his work\nhas led him more among the Indians and the plainsmen, he sees the great\nneeds that have arisen with the growth of the industrial centers. He\nis eager that the Christian forces of America undertake new tasks of\nhelpfulness for the men who toil underground and in the mills, and for\ntheir families.\n\n  Illustration:   Copyright, Brown Brothers.\n\n                  A COPPER MINE AT BUTTE\n\n                  A new America must be won in the restless, throbbing\n                  centers of industrial life.\n\nIt is in Butte that we find the heart of the great copper region of\nMontana. From the hill north of the city, ore to the value of a million\nand a half dollars has been taken. When Brother Van made his first\nvisit there he found but fifty residents. Not only is it now a busy\ncity of forty thousand inhabitants, but the character of the community\nhas entirely changed. The settlers of that period were of American\nbirth and parentage. To-day the great majority of the miners are from\ndistant countries. The pioneers of the days of Brother Van\u2019s young\nmanhood lived the hearty open life of the wind-swept plains; the\nnewcomers from Europe must toil in the dark mine shafts or amid the\ndust and roar of the mills and smelters.\n\nComing as these workers do for the most part from southern and\neastern Europe, differing greatly in customs and in language from the\nolder population, they must be given special guidance, if they are to\nfind the real America of their dreams. They will attain the kind of\ncitizenship which will make them able to take a really helpful place in\nthe life of the country only as we interpret Christian ideals for them.\nIt was for these ideals of democratic brotherhood that the young men of\nAmerica went abroad and for which thousands of them gave their lives.\nIs America now to show to those who have come as strangers to us, and\nwho do such a large share of the hard work of our country, that these\nideals of democratic brotherhood are being put into practise for the\nbenefit of all?\n\nBrother Van found a frontier region when he stepped ashore from the\nriver boat at Fort Benton on that July morning in 1872. He threw\nhimself into the life about him, and his years of service have brought\nfriendship and hope and courage to lonely men and women and to aspiring\nyoung people all over a great commonwealth. Cowboy, Indian, and miner\nhave welcomed his help, for, as they put it, he \u201cprayed lucky.\u201d There\nis need to-day\u2015\u2015there will always be a need\u2015\u2015for the same ministry that\nBrother Van has been carrying on in his founding of new churches, and\nin his friendly visiting in lonely homes, and in his preaching anywhere\nand everywhere the word of cheer and of faith that his whole life\ntaught. And as a part of the same great task to which he has devoted\nall his years, Brother Van will tell you that there is need for another\nkind of scouting to-day in the land of the shining mountains.\n\nThis vast development of modern industry calls for new and varied\nkinds of service. The thrill of adventure is there, although it may be\ndifferent from that which was found in the early days of the frontier,\nand the joy of conquest remains. The winning of a new America is yet to\nbe achieved in many of those restless, throbbing centers of industrial\nlife where men have not yet learned how to bring the spirit of Christ\ninto their daily toil; where home life is narrow and harsh; where\ngrowing boys and girls are shut out from the opportunities for\nrecreation and for training, that a preparation for healthy, capable\ncitizenship demands.\n\nAs we leave Brother Van looking out over the wide plains of his beloved\nMontana and gazing at the great black masses of the mills and mines\nwith the dismal clusters of miners\u2019 cottages around them, we know what\nhe is thinking about. It is of the new scouts who will come to occupy\nthese frontiers of modern industrial and community life for the Master.\nAnd we know that only those who are worthy to be called Great Heart\nwill be able to carry on in the new age of world democracy the tasks\nthat have been so well begun in the old days of the opening West.\n\n\n\n\n              Other books for all boys and girls who love\n                       tales of heroic adventure\n\n                           PATHFINDER SERIES\n\n\n  Livingstone the Pathfinder\n  By BASIL MATHEWS\n      This story of the life of the great missionary explorer is\n      told in a thrilling manner. Every one should know the work\n      of this well-known hero.\n                              Cloth, 60 cents; paper, 40 cents, prepaid\n\n  The Black Bearded Barbarian\n  By MARIAN KEITH\n      The life story of George Leslie Mackay, of Formosa.\n      _American Youth_ says of it: \u201cAll workers with boys should\n      welcome this little volume. It has camp-fire stuff in it.\u201d\n                              Cloth, 60 cents; paper, 40 cents, prepaid\n\n  Uganda\u2019s White Man of Work\n  By SOPHIA LYON FAHS\n      The story of Alexander Mackay, an engineer, who answered\n      Stanley\u2019s call to go to \u201cDarkest Africa.\u201d His adventures and\n      the life of the people are vividly told.\n                              Cloth, 60 cents; paper, 40 cents, prepaid\n\n  Martin of Mansfield\n  By MARGARET R. SEEBACH\n      This book tells many interesting things about the great\n      reformer, Martin Luther, but chiefly about his family,\n      friends, and school days.\n                              Cloth, 60 cents; paper, 40 cents, prepaid\n\n  Brother Van\n  By STELLA W. BRUMMITT\n      The fascinating story of the life of Dr. W. W. Van Orsdel,\n      who has had a long and adventurous career as a home\n      missionary in Montana.\n                              Cloth, 75 cents; paper, 50 cents, prepaid","title":"Brother Van","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":32248}