A Country Strange and Far: The Methodist Church in the Pacific Northwest, 1834–1918

371 Pages·2022·12.218 MB·English

by  Michael C. McKenzie

“Michael McKenzie’s lively narrative of the Methodist efforts to establish
a foothold in the Pacific Northwest brings fresh insight into the early
religious landscape of the region. McKenzie’s story not only brings to
life traditional Methodist figures but details the challenges presented
by indifferent immigrants, Indigenous peoples, natural geography,
and urbanity. This is a very welcome addition to the study of religion
in the Pacific Northwest.”
—D ale SoDen, author of Outsiders in a Promised Land:
Religious Activists in Pacific Northwest History
“McKenzie draws on a variety of sources to analyze the mindsets of
evangelists, Native peoples, public officials, and settler families as they
faced shattering hardships and disillusionment. Carefully researched
and smoothly written, his study outlines a classic American drama:
idealists struggling in vain to claim and subdue a new region.”
— albert Furtwangler, author of Bringing Indians to the Book
“A compelling, original new history, A Country Strange and Far reveals
that efforts to establish the Methodist Church in the Pacific Northwest
were confounded by the region itself. Through rich storytelling
and nuanced analysis, Michael McKenzie sheds new light on the
relationship between place and religion and significantly deepens
our understanding of the roots of the Pacific Northwest’s distinct
secularity.”
— tina block, author of The Secular Northwest:
Religion and Irreligion in Everyday Postwar Life
“In this artfully crafted book, McKenzie uses architecture as one
indicator of the movement of the Methodist Church from being a sect
focused on discipline and saving souls to accommodating itself to the
upwardly mobile status of its congregants, thus losing resonance with
the common person. The focus on the Pacific Northwest makes this
book an original contribution to our understanding of the importance
of geography in understanding religious demographics.”
— DonalD e. Miller, author of Reinventing American
Protestantism: Christianity in the New Millennium

A Country Strange and Far

A
C o u n t r y
S t r A n g e
A n d
FA r
The Methodist Church in the
Pacific Northwest, 1834–1 918
MiCh Ael C. MCKenzie
University of Nebraska Press
Lincoln
© 2022 by the Board of Regents of
the University of Nebraska
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: McKenzie, Michael C., author.
Title: A country strange and far: the
Methodist Church in the Pacific Northwest,
1834– 1918 / Michael C. McKenzie.
Description: Lincoln: University of
Nebraska Press, 2022. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: lccn 2021015363
iSbn 9781496218810 (hardback)
iSbn 9781496229243 (epub)
iSbn 9781496229250 (pdf)
Subjects: lcSh: Methodist Church— Northwest,
Pacific— History. | Northwest, Pacific—
Church history. | biSac: hiStory / United
States / State & Local / Pacific Northwest (or,
wa) | religion / Christianity / History
Classification: lcc bx8245 .M35 2022 |
DDc 287.09795/09034— dc23
lc record available at
https:// lccn .loc .gov /2021015363
Set in Charter ITC Pro by Laura Buis.
Designed by L. Auten.
No Sunday west of St. Louis, no God west of Fort Smith.
FreDerick norwooD, The Story of American Methodism

ContentS
List of Illustrations ix
Prologue: Listening to Janus xi
Acknowledgments xvii
Introduction: Death of the Old Gods 1
1. A Man Overwhelmed 21
2. Broken Is the Tie That Binds 53
3. Miracle in the Valley? 83
4. A Damned Hilly Place 113
5. The Peopled Cities 135
6. Dry and Scattered 167
7. As the Lion Lay Dying 197
Epilogue: Just a Few Bones 229
Notes 233
Bibliography 279
Index 315