On a Higher Plain

Eliza Spalding was the first pioneer girl to grow up in the west. Born to missionary parents, she was sent to school at the Whitman mission where she witnessed a massacre carried out by the Cayuse Indians against the missionaries and settlers. Because Eliza had grown up among Indians and spoke the language, she was called upon to serve as the translator during the hostage negotiations that followed the massacre. In the aftermath of the attack, Eliza spent her life longing to return to the Nez Perce people and the land that she called home.