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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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This day in history: Nez Perce tribal member given honorary degree from Whitworth. Wilbur readied for Wild Goose Bill Days

Whitworth College’s president bestowed an honorary degree of doctor of divinity on the Rev. James Hayes, a Nez Perce tribal member who had been a missionary to more than 25 different tribes, the Spokane Daily Chronicle reported on June 11, 1926. The newspaper also reported that Whitworth was breaking ground on a new dean’s lodge, “the first building to be constructed under the $300,000 Whitworth endowment campaign.” (Spokesman-Review archives)
Whitworth College’s president bestowed an honorary degree of doctor of divinity on the Rev. James Hayes, a Nez Perce tribal member who had been a missionary to more than 25 different tribes, the Spokane Daily Chronicle reported on June 11, 1926. The newspaper also reported that Whitworth was breaking ground on a new dean’s lodge, “the first building to be constructed under the $300,000 Whitworth endowment campaign.” (Spokesman-Review archives)
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By Jim Kershner The Spokesman-Review

From 1976: The Spokane Daily Chronicle put its spotlight on Wilbur, Washington, as part of a series on the region’s small towns.

“Situated in an oblong basin between basaltic cliffs, Wilbur is a service center for a rich agricultural area,” said the Chronicle. “Surrounding grain elevators last year had sales of about $15 million. There is also a good beef cattle business in the area. While the area is mostly agricultural, there are about 50 families who commute to work at either the Grand Coulee Dam or the Crown Zellerbach Lumber Mill at Lincoln.”

The town was getting ready to celebrate “the newly created Wild Goose Bill Days, held each May.” This was a tribute to the town’s founder Samuel Wilbur Condon. He got his nickname of Wild Goose Bill after he fired his shotgun into a flock of geese, “only to have the homesteader’s wife scold him for shooting her pet geese.”

The story estimated the town’s population at about 1,100 in 1976. It was estimated at about 842 in 2024.

From 1926: The Chronicle showed a photo of Whitworth College’s president bestowing the honorary degree of doctor of divinity on the Rev. James Hayes.

It was “the first time in the history of Whitworth College” such a degree was “conferred upon a full-blooded Indian,” said the caption.

The Rev. Hayes was a Nez Perce tribal member from Kamiah, Idaho, and had been “an active religious worker for 40 years.”

“During that time he has been a missionary in 25 Indian tribes,” said the caption. “Previous to entering the field of religion, Dr. Hayes was a warrior under Chief Joseph.”