Lyman's History of old Walla Walla County, Vol. 1 / Embracing Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties

by William Denison Lyman

From the historical data accompanying this review, it will seem that St. Paul's Church was first begun by services held by a traveling missionary, Bishop Morris. The church did not take on definite unity, however, until 1871, when it was placed under the care of Rev. L. H. Wells, a comparatively young missionary from the East. In September, 1871, the first services were held in the building (now gone) on Third Street, between Poplar and Alder streets. This building served as a combined courthouse, hall, church; and the basement housed Stahl's Brewery.

At the time of Bishop Wells' arrival in Walla Walla, this city boasted of one thousand inhabitants, while Eastern Washington had seven thousand settlers. At this date, it would strike us that the little city of one thousand would band itself together to protect themselves from the Indians. But fifteen years or more had passed since the last of the Indian wars, and the wealth of the mines of Idaho and Washington found its way into the city and aided in the carousals of its "short-time" owners. For the uninitiated, the center of the street, or open doorways were the safest stops in the city. The Vigilantes ruled as a secret power behind the throne. Suspicion was fixed upon every law-abiding citizen by those who lived to break the law, as a member of this band.

The wives of several saloon-keepers were members of the church; and one wife succeeded in converting her husband. But inability or lack of desire to learn a new trade, always drove the new convert back into his old business. After efficiently illustrating back-sliding methods thrice over, this particular saloon man never appeared upon the church rolls again. He furnished, however, the material for a story which emphasizes the uncouthness of the times. He maintained a flourishing saloon on the corner of Third and Main streets, and one evening a miner from the Florence District showed up with his nuggets and gold dust. After treating the house several times, he began searching for more amusement. Finally, thinking that the mirror behind the bar might prove a worthy object at which to pelt gold nuggets, he began firing. Needless to say, he smashed it into bits and then careening up to the bar, he simply asked: "How much do I owe?" The saloon-keeper recovered several hundred dollars' worth of nuggets from the floor and after removing the board floor from the saloon succeeded in washing out $200 more from the gold dust which had been lost throughout the previous period. This became an annual event and never failed in bringing a hundred dollars or so.

In 1872 the bishop started his day school, following this in 1873 with a boarding school for girls. In this year a fire burned them out entirely and a larger building was constructed. The life of the bishop was not an easy one. He lived in his little cabin next to the church and whenever a new girl came to the boarding school, he would be forced to give up some of his furniture for the new girl. He was finally reduced to sleeping on a cot, with his overcoat for a coverlet. It was very difficult to keep the coat from falling away during the night; and when another girl came and the couch was needed for her room, the bishop having received no new furniture, built himself a box and filled it with straw, in which he slept and in which he had no difficulty in retaining his overcoat as a comforter.

Gold dust and nuggets were the medium of exchange and the church and school both had gold-weighing scales. Many people carried little scales with them in morocco cases. Gold dust was generally carried in buckskin sacks about a foot in depth and about three inches wide, and many people left them lying about the front porch in disguised covering, as the safest place to keep them from thieves and renegade Indians. Three grades of gold found its way into Walla Walla. These were the Eldorado, Florence and Eagle Creek, so named from the district in which they were mined. Merchants kept on hand small round stones with streaks of all three grades in them, by which to measure the dust, as the three grades were worth different amounts of money.

It was in this atmosphere that the church began, truly, in a missionary district. Yet it grew, and mainly through the spirit of co-operation of the other churches in the territory. At this time there were also the Methodist, Congregational, Presbyterian and the United Brethren churches. Bishop Wells recently told me of the kindness of the United Brethren minister. One day while walking down the street, he was hailed by this minister who was on horseback. The old minister opened the conversation: "Young man, I've been watching you, and so have my congregation. It strikes us that you've seen city life and I'm only a country preacher. If you will take care of my congregation, you may have the church and I'll go into the country, where I can do some good." Naturally, the offer was accepted.

In 1877 the new church was erected, and it still stands. This was built on the corner of Third and Poplar streets. The lumber for it was hauled from Touchet, where there was a mill. One difficulty presented itself, however, and that was that the lumber obtainable from there was very short. But the long haul from Wallula made better lumber almost prohibitive, and the church was built from lumber cut in this vicinity and planed at Touchet.

Even at this date, forty years ago, Walla Walla was little more than a frontier town. The Joseph wars broke out as result of the white man's raid on their land. A few years previous to this the Government had sent out men to see what could be done for the Indians. The white men were open in their statements that they intended to get the Indians' lands. The Joseph war was followed by the Bannock war. In the latter, Walla Walla was seriously threatened, the Indians coming up through Pendleton and striking near the foothills of this city. A very pretty tale is told regarding a Pendleton sheep man and his dog Bob. The Indians murdered the herders, killed many of the sheep and went on their way. The owner stayed in Pendleton fearing to go to his flocks, and did not go near them until a week or two had elapsed. When he did find them, he discovered that the dog Bob had not only gathered all his own sheep into the flock, but had collected more stray sheep from other flocks that had become lost, than the Indians themselves had killed. Furthermore, he had only killed two small lambs for his own sustenance.

Recitation of early events, and incidents could go on forever. And also it is hard to shape a series of stories, and a few simple historical facts, into an interesting history. But the foregoing gives the reader an idea of the times into which the missionary was forced to introduce the Christian teachings. A glance at Walla Walla today, called often the City of Churches, and then the retrospective glance into the '70s, shows the results of the influence which began work at that early date and by its everwidening influence succeeded in civilizing this Northwest.