A Deeper Look: Wasco County

 

Wasco County, The Dalles

I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the Lord. Ezekial 38:23

As it happens, I drove through Wasco County this weekend, along I-84. The trip took me to all the counties we have designated the Columbia River Region, the strip along the top of the state bordered by the Columbia River (Hood River, Wasco, Sherman, Gilliam, Morrow).

It was wet. Rain is good, and these counties need the rain, but it also can make driving I-84 a challenge. We made it, though – Portland to Hermiston (Umatilla County). As we drive this region, we move through the Cascades and the forests and waterfalls of the Columbia River Gorge to the dry high desert of Eastern Oregon. The landscape changes from lush green mountains to rocky cliffs, to rolling hills dotted with windmills, and flat sagebrush-covered plateaus.

The county seat of Wasco County is The Dalles. We wrote about this area earlier here, and a bit about the Revival of 1839-1840 among the Native Americans that occurred under the preaching of Methodist Daniel Lee (Jason Lee’s nephew) and his missionary partner, Henry Perkins. Their headquarters, Wascopam, in The Dalles, was sold to the Presbyterians (Dr. Marcus Whitman) shortly before the Whitman Massacre in 1847.

Wasco County, Oregon

As we were driving back from Hermiston this weekend, we stopped at The Dalles – not our usual stop – at a McDonalds just at the intersection of I-84 and highway 197. At this point, 197 crosses the Columbia River via The Dalles Bridge. I did not know it when we were eating our burgers and fries, but just across the highway from our McDonalds was a site on the National Register of Historic Places: The Indian Shaker Church and Gulick Homestead.

In the 1880’s a Scotsman, Henry Gulick, established a “fishing homestead” on the Columbia River. He was employed by a salmon cannery as a fisherman and as a carpenter and set up fish wheels on the river as well as building several structures on his property. One of these buildings was an Indian Shaker Church, built for his wife, Harriet, who was of the Wasco tribe. This church was the smallest of the five congregations in Oregon.

The Indian Shaker Church began in Washington State in 1881, a Christian denomination founded by Squaxin shaman John Slocum and his wife Mary. In 1881 John actually died, but at his wake, while mourners waited for a coffin to arrive, he revived and reported he had been to heaven and encountered Jesus, who convicted him of his sins, forgave him and instructed him to return to his people and prepare them for the Second Coming of Christ. Later, John again became ill and died and was revived when his wife, Mary, began praying and trembling to a great degree – the “Shaker” part of the church name. The religion spread from the Puget Sound to all parts of the Pacific Northwest.

This group did not believe in reading the Bible, but only connecting with God through spiritual experiences. Their worship practices are said to be a combination of Indian, Catholic, and Protestant. In the twentieth century there was a split with the conservative group continuing with only spiritual experience and the more progressive faction including the Bible.

This church is not to be confused with the New England Shakers (United Society of Believers) nor the Native American Church (peyote). Having read and heard various accounts of visions of Jesus and near-death experiences, John’s vision seems within the bounds of Christian tradition. And to someone who is the descendent of Quakers, who allegedly got their name from being “given to fits of shaking during religious fervor,” this is all very interesting.

How do we pray for Wasco County?

All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all families of the nations will worship before You. Psalm 22:27

Remember God’s heart for the Native Americans of the Columbia River Plateau. Pray for the Lord to reach hearts in ways only He can and pour out His Spirit on “all the families of the nations.”

Pray for the County leadership. Currently the County Commissioners are: Steve Kramer, Scott Hedge, and Kathy Schwartz, whose term is up the end of the year. Phil Brady has been elected to fill her position.

Parts of Wasco County are still listed in “extreme drought,” but we have seen an unusually wet spring as my hydroplaning drive through Hood River and The Dalles this weekend illustrated. Pray this is the beginning of the end of the drought in Oregon.