The following note confirms the belief of Miss Lucy Ball that the school was opened in 1832. It is taken from the biography of Ranald MacDonald who attended Ball's school for a time. The account is as follows, partly in the words of MacDonald, and partly by his biogra pher, William S. Lewis:

In the winter of 1833-1834 (?) Ranald for a short time attended the school of Mr. Ball, an American gentleman who taught at Fort Vancouver. This was the first school in the Pacific Northwest. Describing it, Ranald MacDonald has said: "I attended the school to learn my A B C and English. The big boys had a medal put over their necks, if caught speaking French or Chinook, and when school was out had to remain and learn a task. I made no progress.

John Ball was a Yankee schoolmaster who reached Fort Vancouver in Nathan J. Wyeth's employ in the fall of 1832. On Nov. 17, 1832, he opened school at the fort for two dozen half-breed Indian children of the Hudson's Bay Company's employees. These children ranged in age from six to sixteen and talked the Cree, Nez Perce, Chinook, Klickitat and other Indian languages. Mr. Ball said: "I found them both docile and attentive, and they made good progress." Doctor McLoughlin, whose son was one of the pupils, was a frequent visitor to the school. Mr. Ball was succeeded as a teacher at Vancouver by Solomon H. Smith in March 1833. He (Ball) was the first American to teach school and the first American to raise wheat in what is known as "Old Oregon."

The success of the school. But even more important than the date of opening is the question of the success of the school. Here again the authors must take issue with those who say his school was a failure. He taught the school about 3 months, and then decided to go to farming. He said himself, that though urged by Dr. McLoughlin to continue the school, he determined to go to farming." It is quite probable that he looked upon the venture as a temporary expedient, yet this is not to say that the brief session did not have its beneficial results upon his pupils.

In an editorial the Oregonian stated:

It is inconceivable that Ball, being the man that he was, and being moved as he was by wonder over the meaning of the imponderables, should not have succeeded in imparting some of his fire to his young pupils. Though the records of the time are regretably imperfect, and lacking the detail necessary to the historical completeness of the story of the beginning of education in Oregon, we have undoubted warrant for inferring that had he elected teaching as a permanent vocation he would have been a conspicuous success."

And again they give emphasis to this thought, at the same time revealing some of the difficulties he was required to surmount.

Lewis, William S. and Murakami, Naojiro. Ranald MacDonald, Spokane, Wash., Eastern Washington State Historical Society, 1923. P. 25.

Autobiography of John Ball, p. 94. 'Portland Oregonian, July 26, 1925.

As Ball had succeeded measurably in teaching without books, contriving his own texts as best he might and relying upon the expedients of the moment, so he managed somehow with his farming."

While he taught the school only a brief term, he did leave his impress on the lives of his pupils. George H. Himes stated to one of the authors that he has personal acquaintance with four of them, these being Ranald MacDonald, William C. McKay, and Louis LaBoute, all of whom were born in Astoria in 1824, and David McLoughlin, born on the Canadian side of Lake Superior in 1821.

Some of the personal effects of Ball are preserved by the Oregon Historical Society. They consist of—

writing roll, pens, inkstand, beeswax, pins, thread, buttons, and thimble, brought across the plains to Oregon in 1832 by John Ball, who taught the first school in American territory west of the Rocky Mountains, beginning in November 1832, at Vancouver, and closing in February 1833. He was also the first American to raise a crop of wheat in the region referred to.

He left Oregon September 20, 1833, returning to Michigan. In 1838 he was elected to the legislature, serving on the education committee that helped frame the law that governed the university. He became one of the influential citizens of that State.

Later teachers of this school.-Shortly after Ball resigned, Solomon Howard Smith was engaged by Dr. McLoughlin to continue the school. Beginning in March 1833, he held the position for 18 months. Smith also was a Wyeth man. He married Celiast, second daughter of Yah-na-ka-sak Cobaway. She was very intelligent and sometimes taught for him.10 In the fall of 1834 he opened school near the home of Joseph Gervais at French Prairie in Oregon. He settled at the mouth of the Chehalis River, and afterward at Clatsop Plains.11

The next event pertaining to this phase of the history was the coming of the missionary party of the Reverend Jason Lee, which reached Fort Vancouver on September 15, 1834. Lee had provided for the teaching of the natives by bringing with him two teachers, Cyrus Shepard, of Lynn, Mass., and Philip L. Edwards, a native of Kentucky, but who had been living in Richmond, Mo.

Cyrus Shepard took charge of the Vancouver school, while Edwards went with Lee up the Willamette valley to establish the mission school. Shepard had three Japanese sailors among his pupils. He remained at Vancouver 1 year, then took charge of the school at the

? Ibid.

Oregon Historical Society Quarterly, 6: 342, 1905.

Bancroft, H. H. History of the Northwest Coast, vol. II, p. 363.

10 Grubbs, F. H. Oregon Pioneer Association Transactions, 1913, p. 73. 11 Scott, Harvey W. History of the Oregon Country, vol. I, p. 297.

mission, referred to above, which had been started in the meantime by Edwards. 12

Cyrus Shepard married Susan Downing, who came out by sea on the Hamilton with the Elijah White party, arriving in 1837. He died in January 1840, leaving a wife and two children. 13

Program of the Vancouver School. The school at Vancouver was made into a manual-labor school by Mr. Shepard. For a while there were two teachers, Mr. Shepard and the Reverend Samuel Parker.

Possibly as fine a description as one will find of the conduct of this early school is given by the Reverend Mr. Parker, who arrived at Fort Vancouver September 30, 1835. Parker seems to have been a man of ability, who wrote much, and with unusual clearness. He had ample time to make observations, as he spent the winter at the fort.

There is a school connected with the establishment for the benefit of the children of the traders and common laborers, he wrote, some of whom are orphans whose parents were attached to the company; and also some Indian children, who are provided for by the generosity of the resident gentlemen. They are instructed in the common branches of the English language, such as reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, and geography, and together with these, in religion and morality. The exercises of the school are closed with singing a hymn; after which they are taken by their teacher to a garden assigned them, in which they labor. Finding them deficient in sacred music, I instructed them in singing, in which they made good proficiency, and developed excellent voices. Among them was an Indian boy, who had the most flexible and melodious voice I ever heard.

It is worthy of notice how little of the Indian complexion is seen in the half-breed children. Generally they have fair skin, often flaxen hair and blue eyes. The children of the school were punctual in their attendance on the three services of the Sabbath, and were our choir.14

2. The Whitman Schools near Walla Walla

There were some early schools started in the Walla Walla country by the missionaries H. H. Spalding and Marcus Whitman, who were sent to that district by the American Board of Commissions for Foreign Missions. The Reverend Mr. Spalding commenced his residence among the Nez Perces about the close of November 1836, while Dr. Whitman began his work among the Cayuses on December 10. Wil liam H. Gray was a physician who accompanied them from the East. The mission was strengthened by the Reverend Cushing Eells, Asa B. Smith, Elkanah Walker, and Mr. Rogers, after Gray had returned East for reinforcements.

13 Carey, Chas. H. History of Oregon, vol. I, p. 210.

"Scott, Harvey W. History of the Oregon Country, vol. I, p. 210.

14 Parker, Reverend Samuel. Journal of an Exploring Tour Beyond the Rocky Mountains, p. 171.

In March 1837, Mr. Spalding wrote about a school that had been started at the mission:

Nothing but actual observation can give an idea of the indefatigable application of all classes, old and young, to the instruction of the school. From morning to night they assembled in clusters, with one teaching a number of others. Their progress is surprising. Usually about one hundred attend school. A number are now able to read a little with us at morning prayers.15

In March 1838, Dr. Whitman reported a school of 10 to 15 pupils during the winter, and that when the hunters returned in the spring, the number of pupils became greater than the mission family had books or ability to teach.

Mr. Gray taught in the school among the Nez Perces, which opened on September 23, 1838, with about 150 in attendance.16 This school was known as the Clear Water School. In 1841 it was reported that "the school is very fluctuating, having at some times one hundred pupils, and the next week, perhaps, all would be gone with their parents to some distant place in search of food". Two years later they reported from 200 to 225 in daily attendance. About 30 read well in our language. Instruction was given on the blackboard, or by lessons printed by the missionaries and later recopied by the pupils. About 150 were able to copy with a pen the daily lessons. This seems to have been W. H. Gray's last year as teacher of this school.

Between the years 1838 and 1846 these missionaries established some six schools in the region. These were the 2 mentioned above, 1 at Kamiah taught by Cornelius Rogers, and another one established at the same place about 5 years later, with a "hired" teacher; the Tshimakain school, near Spokane House, started in November 1839, by Eells and Walker, and also another one 5 miles from the station, reported in 1843. The former had 30 pupils to start with, which later increased to 80. School was held in the church. Two years later the attendance was 11, while the second school had an attendance of 22.

3. Spalding and the Clear Water or Fort Lapwai Mission School

The mission school at Clear Water (Fort Lapwai) was located about 13 miles from the present site of Lewiston, Idaho, at the confluence of Lapwai Creek with the Clearwater River. Although it is in Idaho, it seems logical to include at least a brief account in the history of Washington education, because Rev. Spalding, his wife, Mr. Gray, and others were a part of the Whitman group and the mission was really an outpost at first of the Whitman Mission.

1 Report American Board of Commissions for Foreign Missions, 1838, p. 127.

1 Ibid. 1839. p. 144.

The Spaldings arrived at their mission field, November 1836. Their first log house was 48 feet long and 18 feet wide. One end of the building was used for living quarters, the other as a schoolroom and a church. Here they taught the Indians-men, women, and childrennot only the white man's religion, but also the white man's industries. Mr. Spalding had brought tools for building and seeds for planting gardens, orchards, and fields. He planted the first apple trees in the State of Idaho. It is claimed that some are still bearing at Lapwai. He taught them to plow, sow, and reap, to care for poultry, pigs, and cattle. Small irrigation ditches, still to be seen, were dug.

The Nez Perces were eager pupils. Mrs. Spalding was the teacher and sometimes had as many as 200 in attendance. Her house was thronged from early morning till late at night. The women came to see how she dressed, to observe the preparation of meals, and to watch her wash and dress the baby.17

Helen Hunt Jackson reports Mr. Spalding as saying that—

Nearly all the principal men and chiefs are members of the school, that they are industrious in their school as on their farms. They cultivate their lands with much skill and to good advantage. * About one hundred are printing their own

books with the pen. This keeps up a deep interest, as they daily have new lessons to print; and what they print must be committed to memory as soon as possible. A good number are now so far advanced in reading and printing as to render much assistance in teaching. Their books are taken home at night and every lodge becomes a school room. 18

4. The First Printing Press in the Northwest

One of the outstanding achievements of Spalding was in having the first printing press in the northwest set up and operated at Clearwater. He had communicated his desire to print books for teaching the Indians to Reverend Anderson in charge of the Oregon branch of the Ameri can Board of Foreign Missions. Anderson had interested some of the missionaries in Honolulu in sending supplies to the Oregon Mission.

At first Spalding thought it would be unnecessary to reduce the Nez Perces language to writing. He wrote from the Nez Perces Mission House (Lapwai, Clearwater), February 16, 1837:

Judging from the present, this people will probably acquire the English before we do the Nez Perces' language, though we flatter ourselves that we are making good progress. * But what our duty will be, when we have acquired their language and are prepared to write and teach it, or to teach the English to better advantage than we are now, we wait the future leadings of Providence and the better wisdom than ours, of yourself and coadjutors.

17 See Brosman, C. J. History of the State of Idaho, ch. 8. The Missionaries and First Settlers. Baird, Frank Pierce. History of Education in Idaho Through Territorial Days, pp. 1-30 on Mission Schools. is Jackson, Helen Hunt. A Century of Dishonor, p. 110.