was enormous. When he came to Oregon he found one Presbytery and four-
teen ministers, and saw the work grow into three Presbyteries, 52 ministers and
63 churches, before he quit his chosen field. And to this work he had not only
given largely of his own labor, but his own congregation had contributed the
sum of $240,000 to aid new churches and other church work. He was truly em-
phatically the Presbyterian bishop of the northwest.
But great as this evangelistic work was to his own people, and his own race, his mission to the poor benighted heathen sitting in darkness, was even vastly greater. And it was this work that most touched his heart, inspired his greatest sacrifices, and fixed his zeal to the utmost limit of service and activity. He vis- ited the Indian reservations and his heart was stirred within him as he saw their destitution and degradation. He preached and prayed and labored with them until missions were firmly established among the Nez Perces, Puyallups, Uma- tillas and Spokanes, and earning from them the title — "Father of the Indian."
But this was not all. Soon after the United States acquired the great terri- tory of Alaska, Dr. Lindsley met William H. Seward, the great statesman of Lin- coln's cabinet, who had purchased Alaska from Russia, and conferred with him about missionary operations in that region. Secretary Seward assured Dr. Lind- sley of his hearty support in carrying out his cherished plan of Christianizing the Indians. And thereupon Dr. Lindsley at once actively entered upon the mission- ary work in Alaska. And after failing to enlist the support of the missionary boards of the eastern states impatient of their inactivity, he began the work in Alaska at his own expense, and that of his congregation. He sent J. C. Malloy the first missionary to Alaska. He sent .Mrs. McFarland, one of his members to Alaska as the first teacher to that region. He went up in person and or- ganized the first church there (other than the Greek church at Sitka, founded by the Russians.) He made the personal acquaintance of the Indian chiefs of that region, and so impressed them with the beneficent influences of Christianity, that a chief of the Stahkeen tribe adopted him as a son, made him a chief and con- ferred upon him the name of "Tenatac" (The Priceless Name) the highest honor the Alaskans could think of, and the only white man ever receiving from them, such a distinction.
And yet notwithstanding this record, others have sought to give to another — Rev. Sheldon Jackson — the honor of introducing missions in Alaska. The whole question has been fully and impartially investigated by leading teachers and min- isters of the church who have reported without personal bias in any way, that :
"Dr. Lindsley began the Alaskan mission work. He carried it on his heart for years before the east realized its importance. He sustained it for a time out of his own purse, and sent the first laborers at his own expense. To the First Presbyterian church of Portland, Oregon, and its pastors, and not to another are to be traced the beginning of that splendid work in the far north which is now the admiration of the church throughout the land."
While Dr. Lindsley possessed marked talents as a poet, and great talents as a pulpit and platform orator, he possessed more than these. He had great native energy, industry, and untiring persistence. By years of hard work he accumu- lated resources for still larger tasks. At the age of fifty-one he commenced the real battle of his life as a father of his church in the great northwest. At the age of sixty he had made his position, as the pastor of a church in a city of 30,000 people, more prominent and influential than the best pulpit in New York or Chi- cago. At the age of seventy, he had created out of unorganized and incoherent materials, scattered over a territory greater than New England, a Presbyterian province greater than any New England state. His name and career is one that will honor the city of Portland when all its millionaires are forgotten.
But Dr. Lindsley's activities and influence was not wholly confined to the boundaries of the church. He took an active and discriminating part in moulding public opinion in favor of higher standards in politics, and for the purest and noblest statesmanship. His principles may be judged from the following ex-
