History: Bringing Salvation to the Frontier

Almost since the beginning of time, or at least since Christ came into the world, men have been seeking to help others find salvation. After his resurrection, Jesus Christ came back and told his disciplines to “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned.” Mark 16:15-16. ASV.

Taking this verse to heart, many missionaries have come west to bring salvation to those in need. According to the Uinta Chieftain on October 17, 1911 – The first Protestant sermon in the Rocky Mountains was give by Rev. Samual Parker in the Hoback canyon region of western Wyoming on August 23, 1835, and the first holy mass in Wyoming was offered by Father P.J. DeSmet near Daniel on July 5, 1840.

What with the Native American’s, who were considered ‘uncivilized’ by the Europeans who were invading their country; or the hard-drinking, carousing trappers; and later the young, spirited cowboys on ranches and in the cow towns, the preachers probably felt that the people on the frontier were very much in need of saving.

Monument to Father DeSmet at Lake DeSmet, Wyoming.

In 1910, a young man decided to follow in the footsteps of Father DeSmet and other missionaries and decided to convert the Native American’s. In The Daily Enterprise, September 13, 1910 – He Would Convert the Crow Indians. Youth From Boston Assumes the Roll of Missionary. He Had Some High Ideas but They Were Shattered When They Came in Actual Contact with Indians. – With the idea of coming West to convert the Crow Indians into the Christian religion, John Hubbard, a youth of 12 years, left his palatial home in Boston few days ago and came to Wyoming. He traveled alone on a passenger train and left his home without the knowledge or consent of his parents.

He alighted from the depot in Crow Agency and found the “Nobel Red Men” entirely different from his imagination. He had studied great deal of the aborigine tribes in his history and thought them still as uncivilized and disorganized band of barbarians and thought with his Biblical knowledge he could induce them to profess the Christian faith. His ideals were smashed, however, when he found their true state. He conversed freely with several graduates of an Indian school and with the older men and he failed to secure any satisfaction at all. They resented so young a boy coming into their midst and attempting to teach them things they already knew.

Young Hubbard then retraced his steps as far as Carney and remained for a time with the Nash household. He left there and came to Sheridan and was clad in khaki knee pants with cowboy hoots and felt hat. Chief of Police Rice received a telegraph from his parents in Boston asking his whereabouts, but did not request his detention. The boy is understood to have found friends at Fort Mackenzie, where he stayed until his father arrived few days later. The two departed yesterday afternoon for the return trip. It is understood the elder Hubbard is a prominent and influential capitalist of Boston. Chief of Police Rice was later in receipt of a communication from Peter Lorensen, dated Chicago, requesting advice as to what time and what train the Hubbard departed on from Sheridan.

Twelve-year-old boys were very adventurous back then.

After the missionaries came the circuit riding or traveling preachers, which were more common in the Midwest and South, but they had an interesting history.

The Lusk Herald, January 17, 1895 – Itinerant Preachers of Pioneer Days. How Spiritual Needs of the First Settlers were Supplied. Among the many peculiar characters developed in the early days of our national history not the least singular was the traveling preacher who ministered to spiritual wants of the settlers in the backwoods.

The traveling preacher, or circuit rider, as he was generally called, was a man thoroughly and conscientiously devoted to his calling. He always believed himself to be “called” to the work of the ministry, and, having this conviction, gave up everything else for its sake. His worldly belongings, barring tho wife and children, that always lived somewhere within the bounds of his circuit, were generally limited to what he could carry in his saddle-bags, and these usually contained a change of linen, a Bible, a hymn book, in those days called a “hime book,” and sometimes a lunch of chicken and corn bread, put up by a kindly sister at the last preaching place.

He had a horse, generally a good horse, for no other kind could stand the hardships of the journeys he had to make, and for his living he trusted to Providence and the people of the various “appointments” along his route. And, as a rule, he was as well cared for as the means of the people permitted, for every family counted it an honor to have the preacher stay with them, and as he was usually the bearer of news from one neighborhood to another, he was always a welcome guest.

His circuit was planned, partly by himself, partly by his ecclesiastical superiors, who laid out the general ground and expected him to add to the number of appointments or preaching places as the membership increased and the work broadened. Two preachers, a senior and a Junior, were usually assigned to each circuit, and the appointments for the two wore arranged in such a way that the people of each station had preaching every other week at least,or sometimes every week the labors of these self sacrificing men wen- by no means, however, confined to Sunday. They preached every day, sometimes twice a day,reaching one station at 9 or 10 In the morning holding-service, dining with some brother who lived nearby, in the afternoon riding on to another station, where an evening service was to be held. And repeating this round week after week, month after month. Twenty or thirty sermons every four weeks were the usual work, together with 200 or 300 miles of the hardest kind of travel.

Although some preachers did not carry firearms, on the frontier it only made sense to have some protection.

Circuit riders also performed marriages and funerals and baptisms at each town they visited. It was not an easy life.

According to the Laramie Sentinel, January 31, 1880, The number of traveling preachers in the Methodist Church, (south) is said to be 3,457; local preachers, 5,762.

Later, when the iron rail was laid across the country, travel got easier for preachers.

Cheyenne Daily Leader, May 8, 1888 – Traveling Preachers – A train load of divines came in from the West and left for Denver at 1 o’clock this morning. The reverend gentlemen have been traveling in California for the past three months. The party occupied twelve cars.

Camp Meetings

Most of the raw frontier towns didn’t have a church, and the meeting halls sometimes were to small to accommodate the large number of those seeking to hear what the preacher had to say. Camp or tent meetings became popular. The earliest camp meetings were mostly held by Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists ministers.

This from The Sheridan Post, October 15, 1891 — A camp meeting was originally designed to entry the gospel into the highways and hedges and to reach districts remote from churches, In time it became a popular resort, attracting crowds that were drawn by curiosity and idle pleasure, A few enjoyed the religious fervor and enthusiasm which the camp meeting was sure to kindle. Some who came to scoff stayed to pray. Others received no particular spiritual benefit, but the week in the open air with respectable company tended to health as well as morality.

And this from The Weekly Boomerang, September 24, 1896 — In Nature’s Temples. The Modern Camp Meeting and That of Years Ago. Old Time Ones the Liveliest. – Camp meeting days are at hand. There was once a good reason why September and October should be camp meeting months. It was because they are the months following the gathering of the harvest. At such times the mind of the honest farmer is at rest as well as his hands and he has both the time and the inclination to attend to his spiritual welfare.

And where else should he go to worship nature’s God but into nature’s temple? A generation ago a camp meeting was worthy of its name. It was a meeting in a camp. The worshipers lived in tents and bowed their heads under the wide spreading branches of the monarchs of the forests.

They came in big wagons from the surrounding country and as the camp meeting lasted only for four or five days they gave their serious attention to the business of salvation. They do say that “the spirit moved” with a great deal more power in the old days than in modern times.

Here is a graphic description of an early camp meeting. It is taken from a letter, written in 1805, by a devout Englishman who came to New York on business. His first visit was to the famous old Methodist camp meeting grove in Delaware. “Here were seats prepared for about 4,000 people,” he writes, “and a stand for the preachers in the most eligible place and manner. Around these seats, at a suitable distance, were about 200 tents erected for the people to sleep and live in. There were about 1,000 carriages of different descriptions. The meeting continued four days and nights, with very little intermission. There were 29 traveling and 34 local preachers besides other official characters, exhorts, leaders, etc. And there were supposed to be from 8,000 to 10,000 people.

“Here I am at a loss to give a description of the work; the divine presence, grace, and the power made the place truly awful, wonderful and astonishing! Such a time my eyes never beheld! It far exceeds any idea I had formed of the American camp meetings, although I had heard and read wonderful accounts of them in the magazines. The power and grace of God were so conspicuous the in the conviction and conversion of sinners, and in the sanctification of believers that light and glory appeared to fill the camp both day and night.”

Camp meetings could get very rowdy, depending on the type of citizens attending the meeting.

The Sheridan Post, December 11, 1890

The earliest camp meetings were mostly held by Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists ministers. Laramie Sentinel, January 31, 1880 – The number of traveling preachers in the Methodist Church, (south) is said to be 3,457; local preachers 5,762.

Here are a few items from local papers about local camp meetings held in the late 1800s.

The Enterprise, October 4, 1890

Buffalo Voice, July 29, 1899

It was obviously a success, because in this issue we have this clipping.

The Buffalo Bulletin, August 31, 1899

As more people moved into the towns and homesteaders took up claims in the surrounding area, religion became more organized with meeting houses, and then actual churches. However, we have to admire the first priests and preachers who had a genuine calling to “Preach the gospel to the whole creation.”