Former North Dakota bishop prevented a potential reservation land-grab by government officials

FARGO — “Bishop Walker Lifeless, Buddy of the Indians” was the headline within the New York Occasions obituary part on Could 2, 1917.

Twelve years earlier, when a member of Congress tried to subdivide the Seneca Indians’ communal landholding into allotments, which might have allowed unscrupulous land speculators to swindle the Seneca out of a lot of their land, Bishop William Walker used his place on the Board of Indian Commissioners (BIC) to assist put a cease to this motion.

Walker started working with the Indigenous Individuals in North Dakota within the mid-Eighties, overseeing missions on the Turtle Mountain, Devils Lake and Standing Rock reservations the place “he witnessed the failure of federal Indian insurance policies.” Due to his shut working ties with the Indians, he was appointed to the BIC in 1887. The unique objective of the BIC was to “advise the federal authorities on Native American coverage and examine provides delivered to Indian companies to make sure the success of presidency treaty obligations.”

Nonetheless, Walker took his place description a step additional after his mates on the Seneca reservation knowledgeable him of the final word purpose of a member of Congress. Walker galvanized the assist of influential folks to cease the congressman from implementing his plan.

Walker served as the primary Missionary Bishop of Northern Dakota from 1883 to 1896, after which turned the bishop of Western New York. Whereas he was in North Dakota, “Walker constructed 22 church buildings and 6 rectories. Eighteen of the church buildings have been freed from debt, and just one rectory was not utterly paid for.”

He additionally coated a lot of the state bringing the gospel to many early settlers who lived in areas too distant to construct their very own church.

His technique of implementing that purpose was to have a railroad “Cathedral Automotive” constructed that could possibly be transported to lots of these remoted communities.

After studying about “a Russian Orthodox chapel automotive which was used on the Trans-Siberian Railway, Walker determined to acquire an identical automotive to offer a spot for worship within the many locations on the railroads the place there was no church constructing.” Many of the funding for a automotive got here from his very rich former parishioners in New York.

As soon as he obtained enough funds, he contacted the Pullman Palace Automotive Co. in Chicago to construct it. The automotive was 60 toes lengthy and was divided into two elements: The massive most important part served because the chapel and the small part contained Walker’s dwelling quarters and his workplace. The chapel didn’t have pews however contained 80 chairs for worshipers, and on the very entrance was a small pump organ that Walker performed in the course of the providers. On one aspect of the automotive the phrases “The Church of the Introduction” have been painted, and on the opposite aspect have been the phrases, “The Cathedral Automotive of North Dakota.”

On Oct. 30, 1890, the development of Walker’s “Cathedral Automotive of North Dakota” was accomplished and, on Nov. 14, it left Chicago on its approach to Fargo. Wherever the automotive traveled, it attracted giant crowds. Folks have been impressed by its “compactness, dignity and easy churchly magnificence.”

For his scheduled rounds, Bishop Walker would contact the railroad line within the space and have placards asserting its coming, and the time of the worship service. The railroad would pull Walker’s automotive freed from cost, and transported the automotive to a siding close to a station the place churchgoers gathered for the service. Oftentimes, greater than 80 folks needed to attend worship, so Walker would conduct a second service. After the providers have been over, the railroad would then choose up the Cathedral Automotive and transport it to a location the place the following service was scheduled.

On July 20, 1896, Arthur C. Coxe, the bishop for the Diocese of Western New York, died, and Walker was requested to return to western New York and briefly assume Coxe’s duties. “On October 6, a particular conference of the Diocese of Western New York met for the election of a brand new bishop, and Walker was elected.” Walker’s diocese included the counties of Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Niagara, Orleans and Wyoming, and the “see metropolis” was in Buffalo.

In North Dakota, lots of the inhabitants in Walker’s diocese have been Native Individuals, and that was additionally the case in his New York diocese. The most important of the tribes was the Seneca, one of many 5 tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy, and lots of the Seneca lived on reservations in western New York. As bishop, Walker confirmed concern over many problems with which the elders have been involved and, in appreciation, he was formally adopted into the Seneca nation.

A lot of the Seneca’s concern advanced from the passage of the Dawes Act of 1887 that “regulated land rights on tribal territories.” It gave the federal government the ability “to subdivide Native American tribal communal landholdings into allotments for Native American heads of households and people.” It additionally tried to pressure the Indians to adapt to a capitalistic financial construction after they had all the time operated in a communal society. This opened up the chance for unscrupulous corporations and people to cheat them out of their land.

When the Seneca resisted the concept of getting their land subdivided, New York Gov. Theodore Roosevelt, in 1900, named Walker as one in every of 5 members to serve on the New York legislative committee to discover methods to get the Seneca to conform. Roosevelt and Walker knew one another again within the 1860s and ‘70s when Walker was the assistant priest at New York’s Calvary Episcopal Church and Roosevelt was a member. They each lived in northern Dakota Territory within the Eighties, however I don’t have any proof that they ever met throughout that point.

The scenario for the Seneca turned dire in 1902 when Edward Vreeland, the congressman who represented western New York, launched an allotment invoice to subdivide the Seneca reservation land. It was recognized that this land sat atop giant portions of oil and fuel and Vreeland was a companion within the Seneca Oil Co.

Walker’s makes an attempt to thwart Vreeland’s invoice have been a lot appreciated by the Seneca. Frank I. Patterson, president of the Seneca Nation, stated, “Bishop Walker has stood up for us and our rights. He’s higher acquainted with our situation than another public man… He’s a member of the BIC and the one member of the board that has stood up boldly for our pursuits.”

Bishop Walker and different like-minded people have been in a position to persuade the press, the courts and Congress to defeat all of Vreeland’s efforts, and his invoice failed. It’s fascinating to notice that in 1990, Congress acknowledged the previous injustices that had been inflicted on the Seneca and voted to applicable $35,000,000 to the tribe.

Bishop William Walker was extremely regarded for the work he did in New York. After a short sickness, he died on Could 2, 1917. On Could 15, on the annual council of the diocese, he was eulogized noting his many accomplishments.

“Did You Know That” is written by Curt Eriksmoen and edited by Jan Eriksmoen of Fargo. Ship your feedback, corrections, or strategies for columns to the Eriksmoens at cjeriksmoen@gmail.com.