This book began as a series of articles for HistoryLink.org, the online encyclopedia of Washington State history. I am grateful to Marie McCaffrey, cofounder (with her late husband, Walt Crowley) of HistoryLink; to Priscilla Long, word maven, who edited most of the resulting work; to Jennifer Ott, assistant director, who provided valuable feedback on drafts of several chapters in manuscript form; and to all my other colleagues at HistoryLink for their support and encouragement over the many years that it took me to finish up. As Marie once commented, “Cassandra has been working on this for so long that if her book was a person, it could already have had children.”
That it exists as a book at all is due in no small measure to Sandra Chait, my writing partner; and Alexandra “Sasha” Harmon, professor emerita of American Indian studies at the University of Washington. I’d probably still be staring at my computer screen if Sandra had not laid down deadlines. The book is much better than it would have been without Sasha’s insights, expertise, and impatience with the passive tense. Both of them did me the great favor of reading the entire manuscript in draft form, parts of it several times. The flaws in the final product belong entirely to me.
Roberta Conner, director of the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute, was an invaluable resource. She generously and patiently answered my many questions during several interviews, both in person and on the phone. Tamástslikt, on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation near Pendleton, Oregon, is the only museum and interpretive center on the Oregon Trail that tells the story of western expansionism from a tribal point of view. I relied heavily on two books published by the institute: Wiyaxayxt / Wiyaakaa’awn / As Days Go By: Our History, Our Land, and Our People, edited by Jennifer Karson; and Čáw Pawá Láakni / They Are Not Forgotten: Sahaptian Place Names Atlas of the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla, edited by Eugene S. Hunn.
Archivists and librarians are indispensable to anyone who writes history. Among those who were particularly obliging and helpful to me were Dana Bronson at the Penrose Library and Northwest Archives, Whitman College, Walla Walla; Elizabeth Miller at Whitman College’s Maxey Museum; Cheryl Gunselman and Trevor Bond at the Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections Department, Washington State University, Pullman; and Arlene Gehmacher at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto. I’m also grateful to the rangers and interpreters at the Whitman Mission National Historic Site, near Walla Walla; the Nez Perce National Historic Park, at Lapwai; and the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, at Vancouver, Washington. Staff at libraries and historical societies in Rushville, Bath, Angelica, Prattsburg, and Holland Patent in upstate New York were immensely helpful in expanding my understanding of the background and personalities of the Whitmans, the Spaldings, and their fellow missionaries.
I benefited from a wide circle of readers who plowed through drafts of this book in various forms, including UW historians Richard Johnson, Carol Thomas, and John Findlay, all of whom pushed me beyond my comfort zone by asking that I not just tell the story but try to explain what it means. Stephanie Martin, park ranger at the Whitman Mission National Historic Site, read the manuscript chapter by chapter and then as a whole and saved me from many embarrassing errors. My sister-in-law, Kathleen Cain, helped steer me away from too much jargon and too many fuzzy sentences.
My thanks also to my friend Sheila Farr, who introduced me to Anne Depue, agent extraordinaire, who sold the book to Sasquatch and helped guide it from proposal to finished product. Editor Gary Luke commissioned the project; his successor, Jennifer Worick, took it through the production process. I deeply appreciate the skill and professionalism of Jennifer and her team.
I’m surprised that I have any friends left at the end of this long and isolating process, but I know you’re out there and I want to thank you all for sticking with me, for letting me drone on about my research, and for not asking, too many times, “Are you done yet?” I’m grateful beyond measure for the love and support of my family, including my daughter, Linnea; grandchildren, Emma and Sam; siblings John, Michael, and Pam (and honorary siblings Richard and Sharon); nieces Shelly and Liz; and, above all, my husband, Glenn Drosendahl, who makes everything possible.