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THE PRAIRIES OF KANSAS

Previous to the advent of the white man these vast plains inspired a sense of awe and mystery which varied with the changing season. In winter time they resembled the Sahara Desert, in spring and summer and early fall, a paradise, nature's play ground throbbing with wild life, adorned with flowers, fruits and forests which grew along its creeks and rivers. In spring, summer, and fall--a marvelous sight--vast herds of buffalo roamed over the land, and elk and deer were present in great numbers. Wild animals in great variety were in abundance and birds in thousands flocked from the north and south in regular waves to nest and feed until the rigors of winter bid them depart.

Then nature itself went to sleep beneath a coverlet of russet color, to be in turn shrouded in the softest, whitest snow imaginable. Nothing green remained until spring began again a resurrection and a life as fresh and vigorous, as joyful and abundant as on the morning of creation itself. Civilization or the puny hand of man had not yet marred this wonderful work of God. Its vastness, its variety, its ceaseless changes both in the heavens above and on the earth beneath were all enhanced by the play of the elements--the sunshine and the rain, the sleeping winds and the mighty storms, the cyclones, the tornadoes and the rolling thunders to be followed speedily by the softest, richest glow of a sunset or a sunrise that was ever seen on land or sea. This was Kansas as God made it and is Kansas today, except where art seeks to improve on nature with such poor success; yet, outside the modicum of convenience and comfort attained by civilized man, we find such an abundance of untouched natural beauty, power and grandeur remaining, as of old, that the transformation is, as yet, scarcely noticeable. Notwithstanding all this, it is strange to say that two generation ago all the land west of the river and the state line of Missouri was regarded as unfit for the use of white men. It was known as the "Great American Desert," and was considered a suitable dwelling place for the remnants of various tribes of Indians still to be found in many parts of the United States. It embraced a body of land covering 82,000 square miles, being the largest of the Southern states except Texas. .

To give some idea of what these figures mean let us suppose that we could combine the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, and the District of Columbia in one state, Kansas could contain them all and still have room for another Rhode Island. It exceeds the two Virginias in size and is larger than Ohio and Indiana combined. Its natural resources have proven to be simply marvelous and its soil produces various and abundant harvests. it is indeed a glorious bit of God's great earth and, no doubt, is destined to fill a large place in the designs of Providence.

Our task, however, is restricted to the religious phase of Miami and Linn County history, and for that, we begin near Osawatomie. The Mission established by Father Christian Hoecken, S.J., on Pottawatomie creek near its confluence with the Marais des Cygnes river, sometimes mentioned as the North Fork of the Osage river, or simply the Osage river, near the present site of Osawatomie, bestows on Miami County the title of "Cradle Land" of Catholicity in Kansas.

This mission has preserved its identity from 1838 to the present time, whether we view it at Pottawatomie Creek, Sugar Creek, ore in all its glory beside the Kaw at St. Marys. it was the first successfully organized mission, west of the Missouri line. All others failed or became places of periodic visitation until Father Schoenmakers, S.J., established Osage Mission in 1847.

The little church at Pottawatomie Creek (22x40) was built in November, 1838, and the following year Father Hoecken selected a new site at Sugar Creek in the present Linn County, about twenty miles farther to the south and there began St. Mary's Mission. The zeal and activity of the fathers residing at that mission seem to us, today, something bordering on the marvelous.

Removed from all civilization, in a country without roads or bridges, they traveled on horseback or on foot over vast expanses of territory, visiting many tribes, ministering to the white settlers at Deepwater, Missouri, while Westport Landing, seventy miles to the north was regularly visited, and Fort Scott, far to the south, claimed their attention. Sugar Creek, itself, was a hustling, busy place at this time.

All connected with the mission seemed to be happy in their primitive surroundings and gave themselves over, wholeheartedly, to the conversion, education, and social betterment of the various tribes around them. They were, in truth, an Apostolic body of men, refined, highly educated, and inspired with the noblest motives, as is evident from Father Hoecken's Diary.

Sugar Creek Mission, St. Mary's Mission, or Mission of the Immaculate Conception, as it was variously called, must have become very dear to the hearts of all these men; and no less so to that truly remarkable woman, Mother Duchesne, and to her band of devoted teachers. Surely the Pottawatomies were favored by God, and it must be said, to their credit, that they corresponded nobly to every grace. That tribe carried with them into Kansas the traditions of Father Marquette and the memory of Father Baden, who had baptized some of their living members. At Pottawatomie Creek as well as Sugar Creek, this tribe displayed the fervor of the early Christians.

The mission plant in 1847 was well established. There was al large church, plainly but nicely furnished by the hands of the Sisters and by contributions from distant cities. There were schools, well attended and efficiently taught. There was a priest's house, a Sisters' Convent and some work shops. There were horses, cattle, and farm implements. Hunting was still good in the locality and elk, deer, and buffalo came along in due season and, at times, fish was also plentiful. The yearly yield of maple sugar was quite an item, and nuts, berries, and wild fruit were in abundance. Father Hoecken deemed it an ideal spot for a Catholic Mission. The land was poor, tis true, and malaria troubled them as it did all early settlements along the creeks in Kansas, but it had other advantages which more than made up for these drawbacks. The harvest of souls was now ripening at Sugar Creek in 1847 when the clouds began to gather. Some wily agent or some secret influences were laying plans at Washington for the removal or rather the destruction of St. Mary's Mission at Sugar Creek.

The land was purchased from the Indians without much ado and the Civil government carried out its purpose in 1848, when the Pottawatomies were removed to a new reservation farther to the northwest, on the Kaw river, a point where the town of St. Marys now stands. It was a sad and solemn moment for good Father Hoecken; nevertheless, it is true, Father Verreydt urged him to accept the Kaw river reserve--among other reasons, "because the soil in their Osage river home was unsatisfactory and the climate unhealthy," and we may safely add, because he sought to make a virtue out of what seemed to be a foregone conclusion. Indians were never interested in the quality of the soil, it was the quality of the hunting that concerned them, and as for health, the plains of Kansas were about all alike.

It is a noticeable fact that Father Hoecken is silent in regard to the motives back of this transaction. We know that the Ladies of the Sacred Heart were bewildered and sad at heart seeing that they had to go to an unknown place and begin all over again. The Indians themselves began to scatter. "The decrease in the numbers of baptisms," says the Diary on its last page, "shows how the Indians were scattered in 1848. The baptisms for '46, '47, '48 were 178, 142, and 48 respectively. The baptisms for 10 years (1838-1848) were 1,430 of which 550 were adults."

Sugar Creek Mission is now abandoned and, as no allowance was made by the Government for the improvements created by the Mission, the whole collection of buildings were given to the flames in order to save them from desecration. The ashes are still there and a granite block, on which is carved the word "St. Mary's Mission 1839," marks the spot which lies about five and a half miles northeast of Centerville, Linn County, on the Zimmerman farm.

A pathetic but unwritten chapter of history gives play here to the imagination akin to that which inspired Longfellow to write his immortal poem, "Evangeline." Be this as it may, Linn County has remained a barren Catholic field to this day. No Catholic Church, no priest, no school or hospital, no Catholicity is to be found within its borders. From a Catholic point of view, it seems as if the place was abandoned by God. Every effort made in its behalf by priests and bishops has come to naught. Catholic settlers avoid that County as a plague spot, and those who ventured in a generation or two ago have, with few exceptions, lost the Faith. Who can explain the anomaly? Who can assign a cause for one of the fairest counties of the state once blessed by the presence of Saints and Heroes, by teachers and preachers of exceptional merit, by the noblest spirits that ever trod the plains of Kansas, to be utterly abandoned by the Catholic Church?

Well might the saintly founder of Sugar Creek Mission have repeated with our Lord as He wept over Zion: "Jerusalem! Jerusalem! how I would have gathered thy children as the hen gathers her young beneath her wings but thou wouldst not, and now thou drivest Me cruelly from thy gates." One fears to continue the quotation. Good Father Hoecken would never have dared to invoke such a malediction on the land over which he wept on the day of his departure. But God reigns and His Justice remaineth forever.

A remnant of the grand old tribe of Pottawatomies is still amongst us. Divine Providence has marked that band; its name is indelibly stamped on the face of Kansas; "Pottawatomie Creek," "Pottawatomie County," "Pottawatomie Reservation," and a street in nearly every City bears the name. The name and fame of this tribe of Indians has gone abroad in the Land. From the last issue of the Indian Sentinel we glean the following interesting account of the successful missionary work being done in the Leavenworth diocese for the Indians.

"The Pottawatomies are generous to their pastor and to their bishop and are gratefully availing themselves of the opportunities they now enjoy. Father Geinitz has placed a number of girls in the school of the Sisters of Loretto, Pawhuska, Oklahoma. One of the young ladies of the Kansas Pottawatomies made her profession as a Sister of St. Francis. There are three other religious from the Pottawatomie tribe. One of these is also a Sister of St. Francis, on a Sister of the Holy Cross and one a Sister of St. Joseph. The Pottawatomie tribe also has the distinction of giving to the Church the first Indian priest, Father Albert Negabnquet, who was born on the reservation in Kansas."

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