MMMMMiiMHHHiM PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY OF OREGON BY EDWIN V. O'HARA Book Copyright N^. COPYRIGHT DEPOSITS Pioneer Catholic History of Oregon BY EDWIN V. O'HARA (I PORTLAND, OREGON 1911 rS2o Nihil Obstat, A. Hilhbrchid, (fensdr Librorutn Imfofi??taiur, >b A. Christie, Archbishop of Oregon. Copyright, 1911 By Edwin V. O'Hara Portland. Oregon ^ Prbss of Glass a Pruohomme Company Portland, Oregon €ci.A30'i-(in4 Ql0 of tl)P QIatI|aUr lEbitrattmtal Aaanrtatton of (©rrgnit, tit ap^irfriattmt of ^tx f FarB of iEantFBt (Un-np^ratintt, tl|tB littlr unlumr ia r^ BprrtfuUg irliiratFli Ujl tl|e Autliiir. PREFACE This little book, the product of spare mo- ments, has been written to help make better known the story of those Catholic pioneers of the Oregon Countr}- whose names even now seem to be borne down to us from a distant heroic past. Blanchet, DeSmet and McLough- lin are the names of heroes. No prouder names are inscribed on the honor roll of pioneer mis- sionaries and empire builders of the Western hemisphere. No effort has been made in these pages to pronounce a eulogy upon them ; their best eulogy is a simple narrative of their lives and deeds. The manuscript Memoirs of Most Ecu. F. X. Blanchet, by Major Mallet and the large collec- tion of Letters and Documents in the Arch- diocesan Archives in Portland, have yielded much material here published for the first time. Other collections of Oregoniana which the writer has searched for items of Catholic interest are, the Bancroft Collection at the University of California; Major Mallet's Collection (L'Union St. Jean-Baptiste d'Amerique, Woonsocket, R. I.) ; the Congressional Library, Washington, D. C. ; the Shea Collection (Georgetown College VI PREFACE Library), Washington, D. C. ; the collection of the Oregon Historical Society, Portland ; the Oregon History section of the Portland Public Library, and the splendid private collections of rare Orcgonlana of ]\Ir. Frederick V. Holman, President of the Oregon Historical Society, and of Mr. Clarence B. Bagley of Seattle. The writer is indebted to Mr. Clinton A. Snowden, of Tacoma, author of The History of Washing- ton, and to Mr. John O'Hara, editor of the Catholic Sentinel, for revising proofs and mak- ing many valuable suggestions. Several chap- ters are reprinted, with permission, from the pages of the Catholic University Bulletin, the Catholic World, and the Oregon Historical Quarterly. Full titles of works referred to in the text w^ill be found in the bibliography. Portland, Oregon, Sept. 6, 1911. CONTENTS CHAPTER I m'LOUGHLIN at fort VANCOUVER Period of Joint Occupancy. — Early Years of Mc- Loughlin. — McLoughlin Becomes Chief Factor. — Re- lations with the Indians. — Hospitality at Fort Van- couver Pages 1-8 CHAPTER II THE MISSIONARIES Arrival of the Protestant Missionaries. — McLough- lin's Kindness to the Methodists.— "The Great Rein- forcement." — Vicar General Blanchet Arrives. — Con- version of McLoughlin Pages 9-16 CHAPTER III THE FUTURE ARCHBISHOP OF OREGON The Blanchet Family.— The Brothers at School. — The Acadian Mission. — Schooled for an Arduous Apos- tolate. — Celebrating the Feast of St. Ann. — Life at Village of Cedars Pages 17-24 CHAPTER IV THE OREGON MISSION Opening the Western Fur-Lands. — Bishop Proven- Cher at St. Boniface.— The Willamette Settlement Requests Missionaries. — Mission Encouraged North of the Columbia. — Missionaries Appointed for Oregon. — From Montreal to Fort Vancouver. — First Mass at Fort Vancouver Pages 25-34 Vlll CONTENTS CHAPTER V LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS An Extended Mission. — The Cowlitz Settlement Vis- ited. — The First House of Worship in Oregon. — The Catholic Ladder. — Father Demers at Fort Nesqually. — Antagonism Between Rival Missionaries. — Mission Permitted South of the Columbia. — Astoria and Whid- bey Island Pages 35-44 CHAPTER VI THE AMERICAN IMMIGRATION The Outlook in 1842. — American Immigration Be- gins. — Indian Massacre Averted. — McLoughlin Pro- vides Seed Wheat. — The Immigrants of 1844 Receive Aid. — Provisions Furnished to 3,000 Immigrants in 1845. — Two Important Considerations. — McLoughlin's Resignation Pages 45-57 CHAPTER VII THE MACEDONIAN CRY Canadian Fur-Traders Spread the Faith. — Iroquois Indians Carry Catholic Faith. — Deputation Goes to St. Louis. — Young Ignace Meets DeSmet. — Indian Missions Confided to Jesuits. — DeSmet Sets Out for Oregon. — In the Land of the Shoshones. — Fervor of the Flatheads. — At the Continental Divide. — Search for the White Man's Book of Heaven Pages 59-72 CHAPTER VIII THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN MISSION Courtesy of Hudson's Bay Company Officials. — Foundation of Bitter Root Mission. — Tribes of North- ern Idaho Seek Aid. — Obstacles and Problems Inci- dent to Work. — DeSmet at Fort Colvile. — A Letter of Mrs. Whitman.— At Lake Pend d'Oreille. .Pages 73-82 CONTENTS IX CHAPTER IX REINFORCEMENTS FROM EUROPE At the Coeiir d'Alene Camp — Meeting of Fathers Blanchet and DeSmet. — Missionary Conference at Vancouver. — DeSmet Returns witli Reinforcements. — Celebrates the Feast of the Assumption. — St. Francis Xavier Mission Founded Pages 83-88 CHAPTER X developments; ecclesiastical and political Father Demers Visits Fort Stuart. — Douglas Founds Victoria. — Chapel Planned for Oregon City. — Political Situation in 1840. — Meeting to Form Provisional Gov- ernment. — McLoughlin's Contribution to Settlement of Oregon Question. — Blanchet's Attitude Toward Ameri- can Government. — Father Blanchet Consecrated Bishop. — Summary of Six Years' Apostolic Work. Pages 89-100 CHAPTER XI CLOSE OF DESMET's OREGON MISSION Prosperity of Flathead Mission. — DeSmet's Influ- ence Among the Indians. — The Yakima Outbreak. — DeSmet as a Peace Maker. — Bids Farewell to Oregon Country. — DeSmet's Views on the Oregon Question. Pages 101-109 CHAPTER XII THE ORIGINAL OREGON LAND FRAUD McLoughlin's Land Claim Disputed. — The Oregon Donation Land Act. — Thurston's Calumnies. — Friends and Enemies Pass "Resolutions. — Last Years of Mc- Loughlin. — Tribute to the Memory of McLoughlin. Pages 111-121 X CONTENTS CHAPTER XIII THE FIRST CATHOLIC SCHOOLS IN OREGON St. Joseph's College Founded. — Sisters of Notre Dame Arrive. — Captain Bailey Visits St. Paul. — Spirit- ual Exercise at the Academy. — Idyllic Life at St. Paul. — Father Blanchet Acts as Judge. — Sudden Clos- ing of the Schools Pages 123-130 CHAPTER XIV ESTABLISHMENT OF THE HIERARCHY Establishment of Ecclesiastical Province. — Secures Recruits and Aid in Europe. — The Archbishop Re- turns to Oregon. — Activity of Vicar-General Demers. — First Ordination in Oregon. — Arrival of the Bishop of Walla Walla. — Consecration of Bishop Demers. — Peter H. Burnett Pages 131-139 CHAPTER XV THE WHITMAN MASSACRE AND LEGEND Whitman Founds Mission Among Cayuse. — The Massacre. — Spalding's Ingratitude. — Cause of the Whitman Massacre. — Anti-Catholic Prejudice. — The Whitman Myth. — Earliest Version. — The Dinner at Fort Walla Walla. — How Oregon Was Saved. — False in Every Important Detail. — Non-Catholic Historians Demolish Legend Pages 141-154 CHAPTER XVI DECADE OF STRUGGLE (1848-1858). First Provincial Council is Held. — Bishop Demers Reaches Vancouver Island. — Diocese of Nesqually Created. — Conditions Serious at Oregon City. — State of the Diocese in 1852. — Archbishop Tours South America for Aid. — A Discouraging Outlook. Pages 155-163 CONTENTS XI CHAPTER XVII PORTLAND BECOMES A CATHOLIC CENTER Father Croke, First Pastor of Portland. — The Church Moved to New Location. — Catholic Census in 1855. — The Archbishop Secures the Sisters of the Holy Names. — St. Mary's Academy Opened. — Schools Reopened at Oregon City and St. Paul. — Other Early Schools. — The Pioneer Sisters of Providence. Pages 165-174 CHAPTER XVIII A MISSIONARY TOUR IN 1853 (Father Croke's Letters) Father Croke Visits Salem and Albany. — Difficul- ties of Missionary Life. — On the Banks of the South Umpqua. — Settlers Terrorized by the Indians. — A Trip to Coos Bay. — Donation for a Church at Empire City. Pages 175-188 CHAPTER XIX FIRST CATHOLIC CHURCH IN SOUTHERN OREGON Among the Miners. — Plans for a Church at Jack- sonville. — Collecting for the Church. — At the Forks of Althouse Creek. — Construction Begun. — Father Croke Recalled to San Francisco Pages 189-197 CHAPTER XX AMONG THE INDIANS Obstacles to Successful Work Among the Indians. — Missionary Rivalry. — The Work of Father Mesplie. — Appointed United States Post Chaplain. — Father Croquet at Grand Ronde. — President Grant's Indian Policy. — Commissioners Unfriendly to Catholic Cause. — Catholic Indian Mission Bureau Established. Pages 199-209 Xll CONTENTS CHAPTER XXI LAST YEARS OF ARCHBISHOP BLANCHET Father Fierens Becomes Pastor of Portland. — Erec- tion of the Vicariate of Idaho. — Golden Jubilee of Archbishop Blanchet. — Departs for the Vatican Coun- cil. — Catholic Sentinel Established. — St. Michael's College Opened. — St. Vincent's Hospital Established in Portland. — Active Administration of Archbishop Blanchet Closes. — Archbishop Seghers Becomes Co- adjutor. — Archbishop Blanchet's Farewell Pastoral. — • Death of Archbishop Blanchet Pages 211-222 Bibliography • Pages 223-232 Index Pages 233-237 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Pioneer Bishops 8 Dr. John McLoughlin 58 Rev. P. J. DeSmet, S. J 110 Most Rev. F. N. Blanchet 122 Hon. Peter H. Burnett 140 Most Rev. C. J. Seghers 198 Rev. J. T. Fierens 210 Map Oregon Country 164 CHAPTER I. m'lOL'GHLIN at fort VANCOl'VER. 1. Period of Joint Occupancy. The story of the life of Dr. John McLough- lin is largely the history of the early Oregon Country. Before the treaty of 1846 between our Government and England the ''Oregon Country" embraced an area of approximately^ four hundred thousand square miles, and ex- tended from the present northern boundary of California and Nevada to the present south- ern boundary of Alaska. It was bounded on the east by the Rocky Mountains and on the west by the Pacific O^ean. The great com- mercial artery of this vast region was the Col- lumbia River with its tributaries. The first permanent white settlement on the Columbia was made in 1811, when the Pacific Fur Com- pany, under the control of John Jacob Astor, founded Astoria at the mouth of the river. The Pacific Fur Company was taken over in 1813 by the Northwest Company, of IMontreal, which continued the fur trade with the Indians until 1821, when it in turn was merged with the his- toric Hudson's Bay Company. It is on the oc- casion of this coalition that McLoughlin comes into view as an important factor in the history 2 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY of the Pacific Northwest. Three years earlier, in 1818, a convention between the United States and Great Britain had provided that the Ore- gon Country should remain free and open to the people of both countries for ten years. This agreement was subsequently extended indefi- nitely, subject to termination by either party on twelve months' notice. In 1846, at the sugges- tion of our Grovernment the arrangement termi- nated, and a treaty signed at Washington deter- mined the boundary line between our territory and the Dominion of Canada. The years that intervened between 1818 and 1846 are thus known as the period of Joint Occupancy. It can be readily seen that the administrative problems arising under such conditions would be of an extremely delicate nature and tax the highest executive powers. During almost the whole of this period of Joint Occupancy, Dr. John McLoughlin was autocrat of the entire Oregon Country. 2. Early Years of McLoughlin. McLoughlin was born October 19, 1784, in Parish La Riviere du Loup, Canada, and was baptized on November 3, of the same year. Both of his parents were Catholics; his father of Irish, his mother of Scotch, descent. The boy seems to have been reared in the home of M*LOUGHLIN AT FORT VANCOUVER 3 a maternal grandfather who brought him up in the Established Church of England. It is certain that prior to the date of his conversion to the Catholic faith in 1842 it was his custom at Fort Vancouver to read the services of the English Church to the congregation of officers and employes who attended. The influence of a maternal uncle decided the boy to become a physician. He made his studies partly in Can- ada and i:)artly in Scotland, and probably in France. In early manhood he joined the North- west Company and was placed in charge of Fort William, the chief depot and factory of the company, situated at the mouth of the Kaministiquia River on the north shore of Lake Superior. Here he met and married the widow of Alexander McKay, a former partner of John Jacob Astor in the Pacific Fur Company. Their union was blessed with four children, all of whom are dead. Several grandchildren survive, but none perpetuate the name, McLoughlin. 3. McLoughlin Becomes Chief Factor. In 1821, when the Northwest Company was about to coalesce with the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, Dr. McLoughlin as a partner in the for- mer, strongly opposed the combination as unfair and prejudicial to the interests of his com- pan}^ When the coalition had taken place, the 4 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY Hudson's Bay Company officials in recognition of his executive ability appointed him Chief Factor of the company in the Oregon Coun- try. McLoughlin came overland to Astoria in 1824 and assumed charge of the business in- terests of the company. He soon perceived that the great trading post should be located near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers. Accordingly he founded Fort Van- couver on the north side of the Columbia River about seven miles above the mouth of the Wil- lamette. In 1839 he constructed a new fort at the distance of a mile from the original fort on the site of the present United States mili- tar}^ barracks, known as Vancouver Barracks. 4. Relations With the Indians. With his headquarters at Fort Vancouver, Dr. McLoughlin was Chief Factor of the im- mense commercial interests of the Hudson's Bay Company, in the midst of a hundred thou- sand Indians. In a letter published in the "Ore- gon Spectator," Septemlier 12, 1850, IMcLough- lin speaks of his relations Avith the Indians : ''When the Hudson's Bay Company first began to trade with these Indians thej^ were so hostile to the whites that they had to mount guard day and night at the establishment, have sentinels at the gates to prevent any Indian entering M LOUGIILIN AT FORT VANCOUVER O unless to trade, and when they entered to take their arms from them. The Columbia could not be traveled in parties of less than sixty well- armed men ; but by the management of the com- pany they were brought to that friendly disposi- tion that two men for several years back can travel in safety between this (Oregon City) and Fort Hall." There were no Indian wars in the Oregon Country during the entire period of IMcLoughlin's administration at Fort Van- couver from 1824 to 1846. The first Indian war began with the Whitman massacre in 1847, the year after McLoughlin retired from the Hudson's Bay Company. Mr. Holman, in his biography of McLoughlin, rightly ascribes this remarkable fact to the commanding personality of the Chief Factor. He writes: ''Physically, Dr. McLoughlin was a superb specimen of man. His height was not less than six feet, four inches. He carried himself as a master, which gave him an appearance of being more than six feet and a half high. He was almost per- fectly proportioned. Mentally he was endowed to match his magnificent physical proportions. He was brave and fearless; he was true and just; he was truthful and scorned to lie. The Indians, as well as his subordinates, soon came to know that if he threatened punishment for ail offense, it was as certain as that the offense 2 6 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY occurred. lie was absolute master of himself and of those under him. He was facile princeps. And, yet, with all these dominant qualities, he had the greatest kindness, sympathy and hu- manity." Shortly after his arrival in Oregon, McLoughlin put a stop to the sale of li(iuor to the Indians. In 183-1: a rival trader, named Wyeth, stopped selling liquor to the Indians at McLoughlin 's request. A few years later an American vessel came to the Columbia River to trade, having a large supply of liquors. The Chief Factor prevented the sale of the liquor to the savages by buying up the entire quantity. 5. Hospitality at Fort Vancouver. Fort Vancouver was a haven of peace for the early immigrants after their dangerous trip across the plains. All travelers who drifted into the Columbia River country found at the Fort a most hospitable welcome. Nathaniel Wyeth, whom we have instanced as a rival trader, came overland in 1832. His party ar- rived at Vancouver in a destitute condition. In Wyeth 's ''Journal," under date of October 29, 1832, we read : ''Arrived at the fort of Van- couver. Here I was received with the utmost kindness and hospitality by Dr. John McLough- lin, the acting Governor of the place. Our people were supplied with food and shelter. I find Dr. M LOUGHLIN AT FORT VANCOUVER / John McLoiighlin a fine old gentleman, truly philanthropic in his ideas." On leaving Fort Vancouver in February, 18-38, Wyeth writes : ''I parted with feelings of sorrow from the gen- tlemen of Fort Vancouver. Their unremitting kindness to me while there much endeared them to me, more so than would seem possible during so short a time. Dr. McLoughlin, the Governor of the place, is a man distinguished as much for his kindness and humanity as his good sense and information ; and to whom I am so much indebted as that he will never be forgotten by me." And Wyeth was a competitor of the Hudson's Bay Compan.v. Among others whose experience was similar to that related by Wy- eth, was the naturalist, Townsend, who came to the Fort in 183-1:. Writing of the reception his party met with at the hands of Dr. McLoughlin, Townsend saj^s : ' ' He requested us to consider his house our home, provided a separate room for our use, a servant to wait upon us, and fur- nished us with ever.v convenience which we could possibly wish for. I shall never cease to feel grateful to him for his disinterested kind- ness to the poor, houseless and travel-worn strangers. ' ' 00 cj PQ u CHAPTER TI. THE MISSIONARIES. 1. Arrival of the Protestant Missionaries. McLouglilin's relations with the early mis- sionaries form an interesting chapter in the events of this period. The first missionaries to arrive were the Methodist ministers, Rev. Jason Lee and his nephew, Rev. Daniel Lee. They came with Wyeth's second expedition in 1834. The fol- lowing year. Rev. Samuel Parker, a Presbyte- rian minister, arrived at Fort Vancouver. Parker returned to the East in 1837, and pub- lished a book, entitled ^'Journal of an Explor- ing Tour Beyond the Rocky Mountains," in which he speaks of his reception at the Fort in the following terms : ' ' Dr. J. McLoughlin, a chief factor and superintendent of this fort and of the business of the Company west of the Rocky Mountains, received me with many expressions of kindness, and invited me to make his resi- dence my home for the winter, and as long as it would suit my convenience." In the same work, under date of Monday, May 11th, 1836, he saj's: ^'Having made arrangements to leave this place on the 14th, I called upon the chief clerk for my bill. He said the Company had made no bill against me, but felt a pleasure m gratuitously conferring all they have done for 10 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY the benefit of the object in which I am en- gaged." In 1836, two men representing the American Board Missions, who acquired a great deal of notoriety in early Oregon history, namely, Dr. Marcus Whitman and Rev. H. H. Spalding, came to Vancouver. They were des- titute when they arrived at the Fort. Dr. Mc- Loughlin, with his usual kindness, furnished them with everything they needed and per- mitted Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. Spalding to make their home at the Fort for several months while the men were establishing the Mission. Marcus Whitman is the hero whose famous mid- winter ride has been recited in prose and verse. (See Chapter XV for a discussion of the Whit- man Legend.) 2. McLoughlin's Kindness to the Methodists. The i\Iethodist missionaries, as has been said, came in the 3'ear 188-1. They were received by McLoughlin Avith his usual open-handed hospi- tality and were assisted in establishing their .Mission, being treated, as Jason Lee says in his diary under date of September 29, 1834, ''with the utmost politeness, attention and liberality." At the invitation of Dr. McLoughlin, Jason Lee preached at the Fort. In March, 1836, the of- ficers at the Fort made up a purse of more than a hundred dollars which they presented to Lee THE MISSIONARIES 11 for the Mission. In fact, from their inception and for some years after, the success of all the missions, whether Methodist or Presbyterian, was due to the generosity of McLoughlin. This is frankh^ admitted by Rev. Gustavus Hines, the Methodist author of the Missionar}^ History of the Pacific Northwest. In 1837 the Metho- dist mission was increased by the arrival at Vancouver of a part}^ including Anna Maria Pittman, who soon became the wife of Jason Lee. Early in 1838 Lee went East on business for the Mission. He had been gone three months when his young wife died. AVith the fine thoughtfulness and sympathy that charac- terized him, Dr. McLoughlin dispatched a mes- senger as far as Westport, Missouri, to bear the news to Jason Lee. In view of these acts of kindness, the subsequent conduct of the mem- bers of the Mission toward Dr. McLoughlin can be read only with astonishment. (See Chap- ter XII.) 3. The Great Reinforcement. While Jason Lee was in the East on the occa- sion just mentioned, he induced the IMissionary Board to raise $42,000 to send a large party of missionaries with plentiful provisions to Ore- gon on the ship Lausanne. The party that reached Vancouver in 1840 on the Lausanne is 12 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY known in Methodist annals as the ''great re- inforcement." Among the number were Rev. Alvin Waller, and George Abernethy, Avho was to be stew^ard of the INIission, and who after- wards held the position of Governor during the time of the Provisional Government of Oregon. These men were to cause ]\IcLoughlin much trouble. When the Lausanne arrived ]McLough- lin sent fresh provisions to the members of the ''great reinforcement" and provided for them at the Fort. "Whj^ this large addition to the Oregon Mission and these quantities of supplies were sent and this great expense incurred," says Mr. Holman, "has never been satisfactor- ily explained. The Methodist Oregon Mission was then, so far as converting the Indians, a failure." After 1843 the station lost much of its character as a mission and became a trading post. 4. Vicar General Blanchet Arrives. Meanwhile the Catholic missionaries came on the scene. The first to arrive were Father Francis Norbert Blanchet and Father Modesto Demers, who crossed the Rockj^ Mountains be- tween the wonderful peaks of Mount Hooker and Mount Brown, and reached Oregon in 1838. (See Chapter IV.) A fcAv years later the Jesuit Father De Smet came and worked w^ith won- THE MISSIONARIES 13 derful results among' the Flatlieads aiul Kalis- pels. (See Chapter VII.) It was Father Blan- chet, afterwards Archbishop, who established the mission at St. Paul, the oldest Catholic mis- sion in Oregon (page 37). It was Father Blanchet, too, who came most intimately in con- tact with Dr. McLoughlin. During the years immediately following 1838 the two became close friends. It was due to the influence of Father Blanchet that Dr. McLoughlin was brought to investigate the claims of the Catho- lic Church. The only account we possess of the circumstances surrounding the conversion of Dr. McLoughlin is that given by Archbishop Blanchet in his Historical Sketches of the Cath- olic Church in Oregon, published l)y the Cath- olic Sentinel Press in 1878. Under the caption, ''The Remarkable Conversion of Dr. John Mc- Loughlin," we read: ''It is but just to make special mention of the important services which Dr. John McLoughlin — though not a Catholic — has rendered to the French Canadians and their families, during the fourteen years he was Gov- ernor at Fort Vancouver. He it was who read to them the prayers on Sunday. Besides the English school kept for the children of the bourgeois, he had a separate one maintained at his own expense, in which praj^ers and cate- chism were taught in French to the Catholic 14 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY women and children on Sundays and week days by his order. ^ He also encouraged the chant of the canticles, in which he was assisted by his wife and daughter, Avho took much pleasure in this exercise. He visited and examined his school once a week, which was already formed of several good scholars, who soon learned to read French and became of great help to the priest. He, it Avas, who saved the Catholics of the Fort and their children from the dangers of perversion, and who, finding the log church the Canadians had built a few miles below Fairfield in 1836, not properly located, ordered it to be removed and rebuilt on a large prairie, its pres- ent beautiful site." 5. Conversion of McLoughlin. ''To that excellent man was our hoh^ religion indebted for w^hatever morality the missionaries found at Vancouver as Avell as for the welfare and temporal advantages, the settlers of the Cowlitz and Willamette Vallej^s enjoyed at that time. At the time the two missionaries arrived Dr. McLoughlin was absent, but was expected to return in the following September. The good work of that upright man deserved a re- ward ; he received it by being brought to the true Church in the following manner. When IThe first schools in the Pacific Northwest. THE MISSIONARIES 15 he was once on a visit to Fort Nesqually, 'The End of Controversy,' by Dr. Milner, fell into his hands. He read it with avidity and was overcome and converted b}^ it at once. On his return to Fort Vancouver he made his abjura- tion and profession of Faith at the hands of the Vicar General, on November 18, 1842. He made his confession, had his marriage blessed on the same day, and prepared himself for his first communion by fasting during the four wrecks of Advent, which he passed on his claim at the Willamette Falls, now called Ore- gon City, in having the place surveyed into blocks and lots. Being thus prepared, he made his first communion at Fort Vancouver at mid- night Mass on Christmas, with a large number of faithful women and servants of the Hud- son's Bay Company. The little chapel was then full of white people and Indians; it was beautifully decorated and brilliantly illumin- ated ; the plain chant was grave ; the chant of the canticles of Noel in French and Chinook jargon, alternately by two choirs of men and women, was impressive, as well as was the holy performance around the altar ; in a Avord, it was captivating and elevating to the minds of the faithful commemorating the great day of the birth of our Savior.. From the time of his conversion till his death, Dr. McLoughlin 16 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY showed himself a true and practical Christian and a worthy member of Holy Church ; never missing the divine services of Mass and Vespers on Sunday and Holy Days ; going to the holy table nearly monthly and preaching strongly by word and example. On going to church each Sunday he was often ac- companied by some Protestant friends ; one of them inviting him to go and assist at the services of their church, he answered him: 'No, sir, I go to the Church that teaches truth, but not to a Church that teaches error.' On hear- ing of this great man the Holy Father, Pope Gregory XVI, sent him the insignia of the Knights of the distinguished Order of St. Greg- ory, which Archbishop Blanchet delivered him on his return from Europe in August, 18J:7." CHAPTER IIT. THE FUTURE ARCHBISHOP OF OREGON. 1. The Blanchet Family. It is a long journey from Miramichi 'Bay on the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the metropolis of Oregon, where the Willamette River mingles its waters with those of the great River of the West on its majestic course to the Pacific. And it were a long story to recount in detail the travels and labors of the Abbe Blanchet from his early missions among the peaceful Acadians and docile IMicmac Indians of New Brunswick to his heroic work in planting the standard of the cross and establishing an ecclesiastical prov- ince in the Pacific Northw^est. The su])ject of this chapter was born on September 3, 1795, in the parish of Saint-Pierre, Riviere du Sud, Lower Canada. He was baptized on the follow- ing day at the neighboring village of Saint- Francois, receiving the Christian name of Fran- cois probably in honor of the patron saint of the parish church in which the ceremony was performed. His parents, Pierre and Rosalie Blanchet, belonged to old Catholic families, — many of the members of which had won honor- able distinction in public life. A near relative of the future Archbishop, Francois Blanchet, M. D., was one of the foundei's of the first 18 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY French Canadian newspaper, the celebrated ''Canadien," which was established to safe- guard the civil and religiovis liberties of its countrymen. Another relative, a second cousin. Dr. Jean Blanchet, during the prevalence of the Asiatic cholera in 1832 and 1834, won the grati- tude of thousands of Irish immigrants who ar- rived at the port of Quebec while that terrible plague was raging. The Blanchet family has also given many members to the Church. In a genealogical memoir we find the names of fif- teen priests and an equal number of religious in communities of women. 2. The Brothers at School. The young Francois and his brother IMagloire, afterwards Bishop of the diocese of Walla Walla (subsequently Nesqually, and now Seat- tle), were sent to the parish school in the vil- lage of Saint-Pierre. The school was founded and directed by the pastor, Rev. Joseph Pa- quet, to prepare promising youth of his own and neighboring parishes for their classical studies. About the time that the two brothers entered, it was the custom for ecclesiastical students not in the holy orders to be sent to the school from Quebec as instructors in Latin. In its brief existence of a dozen years, St. Jos- eph 's College (for so the school was properly THE FUTURE ARCHBISHOP OF OREGON 19 called) was the nursery of a number of dis- tinguished eliurehnien, a notable instance be- sides our two bishops, being the future Arch- bishop of Quebec, ]\Igr. Charles Francois Bail- largeon. The young Frangois and Magloire Blanchet entered as. day scholars, but the walk of four miles from their farm home to the school in the severe winter weather and especially the danger of crossing the river (Riviere du Sud) determined their parents to enter them as boarders. Francois made his first communion in 1808 (in his twelfth year) and was confirmed the following year, adopting the name Norbert, which he afterwards used as a second Christian name. In 1810 the boys were sent to the minor Seminary of Quebec. During his classical and philosophical course, Francois won distinction in his studies ; we find him carrying of¥ first prize in Latin composition and the pompous title of Imperator (first honor) in a competi- tion in Latin translation. In 1816 he entered the Superior Seminary of Quebec and after a distinguished theological course was ordained to the priesthood on July 19, 1819, and cele- brated his first Mass on the following day. The ordination ceremony was performed by Bishop Panet, coadjutor to Mgr. Plessis, the illustrious Bishop of Quebec, during the absence of the latter in Europe. 20 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY 3. The Acadian Mission. During the year following his ordination the Abbe Blanehet was stationed at the Cathedral of Quebec as assistant. But Divine Providence, which had in store for him the arduous duties of a far Western apostolate, selected a more suital)le and effectual preparation for his life's work. The. old mission of St. Antoine of Rich- ibucto, New Brunswick, becoming vacant, the Very Rev. Bernard Angus IMacEachern, Vicar General and Bishop-elect for the Province and Islands of the Gulf, appealed to ]\Igr. Plessis to send him a French-speaking priest for the Aca- dians of that important mission. The lot fell upon the young Abbe Blanehet, who set out for h-is new field of labor in October, 1820. New Brunswick was formerly included in Acadia, the wrongs of whose people Longfellow has sung with so much pathos. The Micmac In- dians were the original possessors of the land, but the French had been their neighbors for a century and a half. With the energy which characterized him throughout life, the Abbe Blanehet set about restoring the village church, establishing catechetical schools and founding choirs. The better to minister to the wants of his Irish parishoners, he undertook the study of English and soon began to instruct the children in tliat language. He was much impressed with THE FUTURE ARCHBISHOP OF OREGON 21 the mild, benevolent and docile disposition of his flock and to the end of his life was never weary of extolling their virtues. 4. Schooled for an Arduous Apostolate. The vast territory under his charge was a wilderness without roads or bridges. ''The Abbe Blanchet's mission, which was visited regularly at least twice a year, involved the travel of about 225 miles to reach the several stations, situated on rivers, bays and capes. In summer this was done in birch canoes along the rivers ; in log canoes called pirogues, when crossing the arms of the sea ; on horseback across the country, and in winter, on skates or snow shoes or in dog trains, and this in a region where the thermometer marks thirty degrees below zero and where for several months the earth and ice are covered with five or six feet of snow. The oldest inhabitants still tell (1880) of his heroism in storms and dangers of every kind ; how he encouraged his good Acadian or Indian guides and shared with them their arduous la- bors and perils. His zeal never flagged, and after one of these long journeys to his distant stations, or after attending a sick call at a dis- tance of a hundred or two hundred miles, he would return to his humble dwelling in the vil- lage as cheerful and joyous as did the Acadian 3 22 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY farmer from his day's labor in his fields. Thus was the missionary being schooled for the duties of his apostolate in the wilds of distant Ore- gon." (Mallet, Manuscript Memoirs of F. N. Blanchet, p. 15.) 5. Celebrating the Feast of St. Ann. A feature of missionary life among the Mic- macs that appealed strongly to the Abbe Blan- chet was the annual pilgrimage of the Indians to the shrine of St. Ann of the Burnt Church, which was an object of special devotion to all the neighboring tribes. At that hallowed spot on the northern shore of the great Miramichi Bay, the Indians of the whole surrounding coun- try assembled annually to celebrate the feast of St. Ann on July 26. After weeks of elab- orate preparation, the various tribes arrived from their respective homes. The Micmacs in their best garments and in their newly painted pirogues decorated with flags and banners, would form a flotilla and, amid the firing of guns, with their missionary at their head w^ould start on their long journe}' to the north. The arrival of the Richibucto delegation was the occasion of special demonstrations among the Indians of the Ba^^ Then came eight days of religious exercises and instruction under the di- rection of the pastor. Rev. Thomas Cook, after- THE FUTURE ARCHBISHOP OF OREGON 23 wards Bishop of Three Rivers, Canada, ending with the general reception of Holj^ Communion on the feast of St. Ann. Scenes similar to this were to be common enough to our missionary in the OTegon country. 6. Life at Village of Cedars. In the spring of 1827, the Abbe Blanchet, after seven years of missionary labor among the Acadians, acceded to the request of an old friend, Mr. Lavignon, to accompany him to Quebec. On his mother's death in 1821, shortly after his arrival at Richibucto, his old home had been broken up, and hence he expected only temporary absence from his charge. His supe- riors decided otherwise and appointed him to the important parish of Cedars, or St. Joseph de Soulanges, in the diocese of Montreal. The pleasant village of Cedars was not so much a center for a farming community as a rendez- vous for boats passing up and down the river. It was a great resort for travelers and voyageurs. Here our missionary came in contact with the current of life that was moving towards the west. The fur-trader and the adventurer who had dared the dangers of the Rocky Mountains and had come back with tales of the rich har- vest to be won from trading with the western Indians were frequent visitors at the Cedars. 24 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY Here, too, the heriosm of the missionary was submitted to a severe test. In 1832 the dread- ful scourge of cholera broke out in his parish and his ministration knew no lines of creed. It was at this time that the non-Catholics of the place presented him with two large and beau- tiful silver cups in token of their admiration for his conduct in visiting the sick and dying. CHAPTER IV. THE OREGON MISSION. 1. Opening the Western Fur Lands. We come now to the events which lead to the establishment of the Oregon mission. Up to 173], although the French possessions and the diocese of Quebec were presumed to extend into the interior to the uttermost limits of the undefined west, the country beyond Lake Su- perior and the headwaters of the Mississippi was still unexplored. An expedition projected in that year under the command of Pierre (jaul- thier, Sieur de la Verendrye, commandant of a post on Lake Superior, set out for the west and ascended the Assiniboine and its tributary, the Mouse River, in North Dakota. In 1743 the eldest son of La Verendrj^e led a small party ascending the upper Missouri to a point sup- posed to be near the present city of Helena, Montana. They were the first white men to discover the Rocky Mountains. The country thus opened up became the great fur land of North America. Beside the fort of the trader soon arose the log house of the colonist. When Canada passed into the hands of England in 1765, French settlements were to be found on the Red River, on Lake IManitoba and even on the mighty Saskatchewan. The Hudson's Bay 26 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY Company at once opened its forts in the new regions, and the Canadians, unable to maintain an unequal contest, retired to lower Canada. The organization of the Northwest Company in 1783, however, once more gave the Canadians standing in the country and they were soon found scattered from Pembina on the Red River of the North to Astoria (1811) at the mouth of the Columbia. 2. Bishop Provencher at St. Boniface. Meanwhile no priest had been in the North- west country since Canada had passed under the dominion of England. In 1818 (the year before Abbe Blanchet's ordination) Mgr. Pies- sis, Bishop of Quebec, in response to petitions from the Catholic settlers in the Red River country drawn up at the suggestion of the Earl of Selkirk, sent two missionaries to instruct, or revive the faith among, his neglected spiritual children of the upper country. These were Abbe Joseph Norbert Provencher, who was ap- pointed Vicar General and chief of the mis- sion, and the Abbe Dumoulin, his assistant. The Abbe Provencher fixed his residence at what is now St. Boniface, Manitoba. Pour years later he was elevated to the episcopate with the title Bishop of Juliopolis in purttbus, the auxiliary of the Bishop of Quebec and Vicar THE OREGON MISSION 27 Apostolic for the District of the Northwest. With this explanation we are in a position to understand the events which led to the estab- lishment of the Oregon mission. 3. The Willamette Settlement Requests Mission- aries. The arrival of missionaries and later of a bishop had produced among the Canadians and half-breeds and Indians of the upper country a sensation which was soon communicated to the remotest posts of the fur companies. Just at this time occurred a cessation of hostilities be- tween the rival fur-trading companies and their union under the title of the Honorable Hudson's Bay Company with Dr. John McLoughlin in charge of the forts in the Oregon Country. It was under McLoughlin 's direction that a num- ber of the Canadian employes of the Company whose term of office had expired, were supplied with provisions and farming implements to enable them to settle in the Willamette Valley on what has since been known as French Prai- rie. (Chapter V, par. 3.) This was the first agricultural settlement in the present State of Oregon and became the nucleus of the large and prosperous Catholic settlement of St. Paul. Thus even the Canadians in distant Oregon heard the good news and 28 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY longed for the coming of missionaries among them to re-animate their faith and recon- cile themselves, their Indian wives and their children to the Church. Their desires found expression in petitions which they drew up on July 3, 1834, and again on February 23, 1835, at the suggestion of Dr. McLoughlin. These petitions were directed to ]\Igr. Provencher and recited their sad spiritual conditions and begged that priests might be sent to reside with them on the banks of the Willamette. The Hudson's Bay Company would provide trans- portation and the Canadian settlers agreed to support the missionaries. Mgr. Provencher in answer to these petitions wrote a pastoral to his spiritual children on the Willamette and for- warded it to them through Dr. McLoughlin. The Bishop tells them that he has no priests at Red River whom he can send, but that he is on the point of starting for Canada and Europe, where he will make every effort to secure missionaries for them and for the Indian tribes about them. He exhorts them in the meantime to deserve by their good behavior that God will bless his undertaking. At the same time Mgr. Proven- cher wrote to Mgr. Joseph Signay, Bishop of Quebec, concerning the expressed wish of the Catholics of O'regon for missionaries. On the return of Bishop Provencher from Europe it THE OREGON MISSION 29 was decided to send two priests to the new field and he at once entered into correspond- ence with Governor Simpson, of the Hudson's Bay Company in London, for their transporta- tion. 4. Mission Encouraged North of the Columbia. The Oregon question had come to be a critical issue between the American and English gov- ernments at this time (1837), and the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company in London ob- jected to the establishment of a mission in the Willamette Valley which, lying south of the Columbia River, was in disputed territory. Gov- ernor Simpson suggested that the mission be established north of the Columbia and Mgr. Pro- vencher acquiesced in the suggestion. A letter of Governor Simpson to the Bishop of Quebec under date of London, February 17, 1838, sums up the correspondence: "My Lord: I yester- day had the honor of receiving a letter from the Bishop of Juliopolis, dated Red River, 13th October, 1837, wherein I am requested to com- municate with your Lordship on the subject of sending two priests to the Columbia River for the purpose of establishing a Catholic mission in that part of the country. "When the Bishop first mentioned this sub- ject, his view was to form the mission on the banks of the Willamette, a river falling into the Columbia from the south. To the estalv lishing of a mission there, the Governor and Committee in London and the Council in Hud- 30 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY son's Bay had a decided objection, as the sov- ereignty of that country is still undecided ; but I last summer intimated to the Bishop that if he would establish the mission on the banks of the Cowlitz River, or on the Cowlitz Portage, fall- ing into the Columbia from the northward, and give his assurrance that the missionaries Avould not locate themselves on the south side of the Columbia River ... I should recommend the Governor and the Committee to afford a passage to the priests. . . . *'By the letter received yesterday-, already alluded to, the Bishop enters fully into my views and expresses his willingness to fall in with my suggestions. This letter I have laid before the Grovernor and Committee and am now instructed to intimate to your Lordship that if the priests will be ready at Lachine to embark for the interior about the 25th of April, a passage will be afforded them, and on the ar- rival at Fort Vancouver measures will be taken by the Company's representatives there to fa- cilitate the establishing of the mission. ''Your Lordship's most obedient servant, ''GEO SIMPSON." 5. Missionaries Appointed for Oregon. In the meantime the Bishops had selected the priests who were destined to carry the light of the Gospel into the new field. The Bishop of Quebec gave the charge of the mission of Ore- gon to Abbe Blanchet, still where we left him, ministering to his Hock at Cedars. By letters THE OREGON MISSION 31 dated April 17th, 1838, he was appointed Vicar General to the Bishop of Quebec with jurisdic- tion over the territory ''which is comprised between the Rocky Mountains on the east, the Pacific Ocean on the west, the Russian posses- sions on the north and the territory of the United States on the south." Special caution was given him not to establish missions in the territory south of the Columbia, "the posses- sion whereof is contested by the United States." The Abbe Modeste Demers, a young priest who had been ordained the previous year and who had been sent to the mission of the Red River of the North, was appointed assistant to the new Vicar General of Oregon. By an indult of the Holy See dated February 28, 1836, the Co- lumbia country had been annexed to the Vicar- iate Apostolic of Mgr. Provencher of Red River. 6. From Montreal to Fort Vancouver. The journey from Montreal to Fort Van- couver occupied six months. The distance from Lachine to Red River (2,100 miles) was made with canoes with occasional portages from one river or lake to another in a little more than a month. At Red River the Vicar General passed a month with Bishop Provencher and took his departure in company with the Abbe Demers in July for the Rocky Mountains, covering the 32 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY distance of 2,000 miles in less than three months and reaching the summit of the Rockies (be- tween Mounts Hooker and Brown in Alberta) on the 10th of October. At 3 o'clock in the morning of that day the Vicar General cele- brated Mass and consecrated — to quote his own words — ''to their Creator these mountains and abrupt peaks whose prodigious heights ascend toward heaven to celebrate the praise of the Almighty." On the following Sunday the caravan arrived at Big Bend on the banks of the Columbia, and the Holy Sacrifice was of- fered for the first time in the Oregon country, Abbe Demers being celebrant. The remainder of the journey was made in light boats on the Columbia. Convenient stops were made at Forts Colvile, Okanogan and Walla Walla (now Wallula). At this last post the missionaries were visited b}^ the Walla Walla and ©ayuse Indians, among whom Dr. Whitman, of the '' Whitman-Saved-Oregon" myth fame, was zealously working at the Wail- atpu mission. At Fort Walla Walla their visit was made pleasant by meeting with a Catholic gentleman in the person of the commandant, Mr. Pambrun. The meeting with the Cayuse Indians at this place led to closer relations in subsequent visits of Father Demers to the Fort and a growing estrangement between the Cath- THE OREGON MISSION 33 olic and Protestant missionary forces. From Fort Walla Walla, their flotilla set out for Fort Vancouver and, after a week of slow and tedi- ous descent of the Columbia, arrived at their destination on Saturday, November 24, 1838. They were greeted by James Douglas, who was Chief Factor and Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, west of the Rocky Mountains in the absence of Dr. John McLoughlin on a visit to Canada and England. They had arrived at the scene of their future labors. On this date, therefore, begins the history of the Catholic Church in the Pacific Northwest. No sooner had the missionaries reached the Fort than they were waited on by Joseph Ger- vais, Etienne Lucier and Pierre Beleque, a dele- gation representing the Canadians of the Wil- lamette Valley. The settlers of French Prairie, on hearing that the missionaries were coming, left their homes in a body and came to Van- couver to greet them. A delay in the arrival of the Vicar General's party, however, obliged nearly all to return disappointed, leaving only three to represent them and offer to the mis- sionaries their grateful welcome. 7. First Mass at Fort Vancouver. The day following their arrival being Sunday, preparations Avere made in the school house at the Fort for the celebration of High Mass by 34 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY the Vicar General. It was the first time that many of the Canadians present had been privi- leged to assist at the Holy Sacrifice for ten. fif- teen or even twenty years. Tears came into their eyes as they reflected on the blessings which would be brought to themselves, their wives and children by the instructions and min- istrations of the priests who had come among them. The employes of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, in active service at the twenty-eight forts for fur-trade, were for the most part Catholic; besides these, were four Canadian families set- tled in Cowlitz and twenty-six families in the Willamette Valley, This was the nucleus around which the missionaries were to establish the Church in the Pacific Northwest. No flattering picture of the conditions confronting him is drawn by the future Archbishop. He writes : "Many of the servants and settlers had for- gotten their prayers and the religious principles they had received in their youth. The women they had taken for their wives were pagans, or baptized without sufficient knowledge. Their children were raised in ignorance. One may well imagine that in many places, disorders, rudeness of morals and indecency in practices answered to that state of ignorance." (Histor- ical Sketches, p. 62.) CHAPTER V. LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS. 1. An Extended Mission. Father Blaiiehet began his work by opening at Fort Vancouver for the Catholics of the place a mission which lasted with very little inter- ruption from the end of November, 1838, to the middle of April of the next year. A census taken at the time showed seventy-six Catholics at the Fort, including a number of Catholic Iroquois as well as the Canadian employes. During the mission especial attention was paid to the Indians. In the morning and evening Father Demers, who had mastered the Chinook jargon, taught them the prayers he had trans- lated for them, and in the afternoon about one hundred women and children gathered for in- struction preparatory to baptism. While Father Demers was instructing the Indians, the Vicar General taught the Canadians, giving in- structions both in French and English, so that some of those who were more apt were soon able to assist in teaching the prayers and cate- chism to others. The teaching of Gregorian chant was a matter of special pride with the Vicar General, and he alwaj^s mentions with satisfaction the solemn chanting of the services by the savages in his various missions. 36 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY 2. The Cowlitz Settlement Visited. According to the agreement already men- tioned, between Mgr. Provencher and Sir George Simpson, the Catholic mission was to be established on the Cowlitz River, as the set- tlement on the Willamette (then called Wal- lamet) was in disputed territory. Accordingly, the Vicar General left Vancouver on December 12, in a canoe paddled by four Indians, and arrived at the Cowlitz settlement on Sunday, December 16. He celebrated Mass in the house of one of the Canadian settlers, Mr. Simon Pla- mondon. He chose for the mission six hundred and forty acres of clear prairie land and left his servant to square the timbers for a house and barn and to make rails for fences. On leaving, he appointed one of the farmers, Mr. Fagnant, to teach the pra3'ers and catechism to the avo- men and children until the next visit of the mis- sionaries. 3. The First House of Worship in Oregon. The fact that no mission was to be estab- lished south of the Columbia did not deter the Vicar General from attending to the spiritual wants of the settlers who had first sent the Ma- cedonian cry to the bishops of Canada. On his return from Cowlitz he spent his first Christmas in the West at Fort Vancouver, celebrating mid- LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS 37 night Mass with great solemnity — a custom which he never failed to observe. On January 8, 1839, he set out for the settlement in the Willamette Valley a few miles above Cham- poeg, near the present town of St. Paul. The history of this settlement is related by Arch- bishop Blanchet as follows : ''There remained in the country three Cana- dians, remnants of the old expeditions of Hunt and Astor, viz., Etienne Lucier, one of the former, and Joseph Gervais and Louis Labonte of the latter. Etienne Lucier being tired of living a wandering life, began in 1829 to culti- vate the land near Fort Vancouver, and getting dissatisfied w^ith his first choice, left it in 1830, and removing to the Willamette Valley, settled a few miles above Champoeg, then called b}^ the Canadians 'Campement de Sable.' FolloAving his example, the two others followed him in 1831 and settled some distance south of him, one on the right, and the other on the left side of the river. Some old servants of the Hud- son's Bay Company, being discharged from fur- ther service, went over to them and increased their number. The good and generous Dr. Mc- Loughlin encouraged the colony and helped it all in his power." (Historical Sketches, p. 75.) This was the community which had petitioned Mgr. Provencher for a spiritual guide. When 38 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY the Vicar General arrived at Champoeg he was provided w^ith a mount and rode to the church, which stood at a distance of four miles. The church, the first erected in Oregon, a log struc- ture, thirty by seventy feet, had been built in 1836, having been undertaken as soon as the settlers had received Mgr. Provencher's pas- toral promising them missionaries and exhort- ing them to the faithful practice of their relig- ion. Father Blanchet took possession of a small room behind the altar and spent the after- noon in receiving visits from the people, whose ardent wishes had that day been realized. The following day, January 6, being Sunday and the feast of the Epiphany, the church, the first in the Pacific Northwest, was blessed under the patronage of the Apostle St. Paul, and Holy Mass, for the first time in the present State of Oregon, was celebrated in the presence of the Canadians, their wives and children. For four weeks the Vicar General conducted a mission among them, instructing all, baptizing the wo- men and children and blessing the marriages. Before leaving he took possession of a section of land around the church, because both he and the settlers had every confidence that Dr. Mc- Loughlin Avould secure permission for the estab- lishment of a permanent mission on the Wil- lamette. LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS 39 4. The Catholic Ladder. After a few weeks at Fort Vancouver, the Vicar General set out again for Cowlitz and opened a mission there in the house of Mr. Pla- mondon on Passion Sunday, the 17th of March, 1839. The mission continued until Easter, the ceremonies of Holy Week making a deep im- pression upon all who attended. A device called ''The Catholic Ladder," adopted by Father Blanchet on the occasion of this mis- sion, was to exert a wide influence in all the early Catholic missionarj^ work among the In- dians in Oregon. The news of the arrival of the missionary at Cowlitz caused numerous del- egations of Indians to come from remote dis- tances in order to see and hear the black-gown. Among these was one from an Indian tribe on Whidbey Island, Puget Sound, 150 miles from the Cowlitz mission. After a journey of two days in canoes to Fort Nesqually and an ardu- ous march of three days on foot, across streams and rivers and by an exceedingly rough trail, they reached Cowlitz with bleeding feet, and famished. When they were refreshed, the mis- sionary began to explain to them the teachings of the Christian religion. In his Historical Sketches Archbishop Blanchet gives the follow- ing account of the matter: "The great diffi- culty was to give them an idea of religion so 40 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY plain and simple as to command their atten- tion . . . and which they could carry back with them to their tribes. In looking for a plan the Vicar General imagined that by represent- ing on a square stick the forty centuries before Christ by forty marks ; the thirty-three years of our Lord by thirty-three points followed by a cross ; and the eighteen centuries and thirty- nine years since, by eighteen marks and thirty- nine points, his design would be pretty well answered, giving him a chance to show the be- ginning of the world, the creation, the fall of the angels, of Adam, the promise of a saviour, the time of His birth, and His death upon the cross as well as the mission of the Apostles. The plan was a great success. After eight days of explanation the chief and his companions be- came masters of the subject . . . and started for home well satisfied with a square rule thus marked." (Page 85.) The same scheme was soon after worked out on a chart, at first simply, but later in a very elaborate manner. A copy of this chart in its final form, as copy- righted by Archbishop Blanchet in 1859. meas- ures five feet in length and two and a half feet in wndth. It is a veritable pictorial compen- dium of Biblical and Church history. The use of the Catholic Ladder spread ver}' rapidly, and a copy of the chart was to be found in LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS 41 every Indian camp visited by a Catholic mis- sionary. In the absence of the priest, the In- dian chiefs took great pride in expounding the ''Ladder" to their people. Father De Smet praised it very highly, and the view taken of it by the Protestant missionaries may be seen from the fact that they tried to counteract its influence by a "Protestant Ladder" in which the history of the Catholic Church was traced as the broad way that leads to perdition. It is certain that this concrete and pictorial presen- tati'on of religion was much better suited to the capabilities of the savage than the abstract doc- trinal methods employed by the Protestant mis- sionaries, and it achieved more success. 5. Father Demers at Fcrt Nesqually. While he was conducting the mission at Cow- litz, the Vicar General was informed that the Methodists were about to open an establishment among the Indians at Fort Nesqually. He im- mediately dispatched Father Demers thither, feeling that it would be easier to gain the atten- tion of the savages before they had been ex- posed to hostile teachers. A ten days' mission by Father Demers resulted in gaining the good will of the Indians, in bringing back to the practice of their religion the Canadian em- ployes of the Fort and in the conversion of 42 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY Mrs. Kitson, the wife of the commandant^ at Fort Nesqually, who thereafter acted as inter- preter. Father Demers made arrangements to build a chapel at Fort Nesquall}^ and hastened back to Fort Vancouver to take passage on one of the barges of the Hudson's Bay Company for the Upper Columbia settlements. The summer months of 1839 found him giving missions at Forts Colvile, Okanogan and Walla Walla to the great spiritual benefit of both the savages and the Canadians. In October Father Demers was back again at the Cowlitz. From a letter written at this time we get the interesting infor- mation that on the 14th of October he blessed a fifty-pound bell and after having it placed in position, rang the Angelus — the first time in the Oregon Country .^ 6. Antagonism Between Rival Missionaries. Meanwhile the Vicar General revisited the settlement on the Willamette and later con- ducted a successful mission at Fort Nesqually. At the former place no little excitement was caused by the antagonism of the rival mission- aries. A number of marriages and baptisms 1 Mr. Kitson was received into the Church the follow- ing year. 2 This was in the present State of Washington. The Vicar General had an eightv-pound bell set in place and blessed at St. Paul two days before Christmas, 1839. This was the first bell to peal forth the Angelus in the present State of Oregon. I^AYING THE FOUNDATIONS 43 were performed bj^ Father Blanchet in eases where the Methodist ministers had already of- ficiated. The ministers had also established a temperance society and had gathered in a num- br of Catholics, — which would doubtless have been good for them had it not been made a means of perverting their faith. When the Catholic mission was established, the Catholics withdrew from the society, much to the chagrin of the opposing missionaries. To disaffect the minds of people toward the Catholic mission, a copy of the vile "disclosures" of Maria Monk was circulated in the community. When the true character of the book was made known, its cir- culation produced an effect contrary to that intended, and it was quietly withdrawn. 7. Mission Permitted South of the Columbia. The first year of missionary life in Oregon closed auspiciously Avith notice from the Hud- son's Bay Company that the Governor and Committee had reconsidered their objection to the establishment of a Catholic mission on the south side of the Columbia and that the mis- sionaries were at liberty to make such a foun- dation on the Willamette. The news was con- veyed to the Vicar General by acting Governor James Douglas in the absence of Dr. McLough- lin, who was in Europe. The change of attitude 44 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY on the part of the Company was effected by the representations of Dr. McLoughlin while in London.* McLoughlin returned to Fort Van- couver in the fall of 1839 and paid a visit to the settlement on the "Willamette, where he was greeted as a father. This was the occasion of his first meeting with the future Archbishop. 8. Astoria and Whidbey Island. During the year 1840, our missionaries laid the foundation of two important establishments, the one at Astoria at the mouth of the Colum- bia, the other at Whidbey- Island on Puget Sound. Father Demers reached Astoria on May 21 and on the following day pitched his tent among the Chinook Indians. At the time of his arrival, the ship, Lausanne, had just crossed the Columbia bar with the ''great re- inforcement" for the Methodist mission on the AVillamette. Father Demers "with a little bell in one hand and a 'Catholic Ladder' in the other continued his mission for three weeks, instruct- ing the adults, baptizing the children and doing much good." MeauAvhile the Vicar General had made his way by canoe from Fort Nes- qually to Whidbey Island on Puget Sound, where he erected a massive cross (Avhence Com- modore Wilkes called it Cross Island) and gathered the savages about him for daily in- struction.^ IFather Magin Catala and other Franciscans had been at Nootka Sound with the Spanish explorers (1774-1794). Engelhardt, "Holy Man of Santa Clara," p. 18. CHAPTER VI. THE AMERICAN IMMIGRATION. 1. The Outlook in 1842. At the time of his conversion McLoughlin's fortunes and powers were at their zenith ; his prospects w^ere golden. During the years of his administration at Fort Vancouver he had built up the business of his Company to enor- mous proportions. The Indians w^ere peaceful and obedient and he commanded the respect as well as the obedience of the officers and em- ployes of the Company. His salary reached, what was for those times, the almost princely sum of $12,000 annually. He had completed his fifty- eighth year with the physical and mental powers of the very prime of manhood. Joining the Catholic Church at this time was, liumanly speaking, most ill-advised. To the prejudice against McLoughlin as a British subject before and during the "54-40 or fight" campaign of Polk in 1844, was added the prejudice against him as. a Catholic, which, as Mr. Holman re- marks, was intensified locall}" in Oregon by "a partial success of the Roman Catholic mission- aries with the Indians, where the Protestants had failed." Then, there was also McLough- lin 's land claim at Oregon City, which was coveted by members of the Methodist Mission, 46 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY and of which we shall have occasion to speak later on. The ten j^ears following the conver- sion of McLoughlin were to witness important developments in the Oregon Country. 2. American Immigration Begins. Beginning with 1842, a tide of immigration set toward Oregon from the Eastern States. Of the one hundred and twenty-five persons who came in 1842, a part onlj^ remained in Ore- gon. Oil their arrival thej^ were assisted very generously by Dr. McLoughlin and, when near- ly half of their number set out for California a few months later, they were furnished by him with supplies, with the understanding that they would repa}^ the Hudson's Bay Company's agent, at Yerba Buena (now San Francisco). Most of them did not pay, and IMcLoughlin as- sumed personal responsibility for their indebt- edness to the Company. The first great influx of home-builders came in 1843. The company, consisting of nearly nine hundred persons, set out from Independence, Mo., on their long and tedious journej^ across the plains and moun- tains. They were led by Hon. Peter H. Burnett, who became the first Governor of California, and J. W. Nesmith, afterwards United States Senator from Oregon. On reaching the Co- lumbia River they followed its course. Their THE AMERICAN IMMIGRATION 47 greatest difficult}' was in getting from the upper to the lower Cascades. As the rafts could not be taken over the rapids, it was necessary to cut a trail around the Cascades. Meanwhile the rains set in. The condition of the immigrants became desperate. They had not anticipated such hardships and were ill prepared for them. Few had sufficient- food or clothing, and manj^ w^ere absolutely desti- tute. Dr. IMcLoughlin came to their relief. He furnished boats to carry them from the Cascades to Vancouver. He sold supplies to those who were able to pay and gave credit without collateral to all Avho were in want. By his orders the sick were nursed and cared for in the Company's hospital at the Fort. 3. Indian Massacre Averted. While the immigrants were following the course of the Columbia River, The Dalles In- dians plotted to massacre the entire party. One can readily see what would have been the result of such a catastrophe. It would have prevented for many years the development of the Oregon Country by the Americans, and this is precisely what the Hudson's Bay Company would have desired. They wished to prevent the settlement of the country, so as to keep it a rich field for their exploitation, a wild country 48 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY for wild animals. To carry out the wishes of his Company, Dr. McLon^hlin need only have permitted events to take their course. The Indians would have effectually discouraged im- migration, and the Oregon Country would have been saved to Great Britain and the Hudson's Bay Company for years to come. But Mc- Loughlin put aside the interests of company and country to protect the higher interests of humanity. We learn from his own pen how the massacre was averted. In a document now in the possession of the Oregon Historical As- sociation he saj^s : ^'In 1843, about 800 im- migrants arrived from the States. I saw by the look of the Indians that they Avere excited, and I watched them. As the first stragglers were arriving at Vancouver in canoes, and I was standing on the bank, nearer the water there was a group of ten or twelve Indians. One of them bawled out to his companions, 'It is good for us to kill these Bostons (Amer- icans).' Struck with the excitement I had seen in the countenances of the Indians since they had heard the report of the immigration com- ing, I felt certain they were inclined to mis- chief, and that he spoke thus loud as a feeler to sound me, and to take their measures ac- cordingly. I immediately rushed on them with m}^ cane, calling out at the same time, 'Who THE AMERICAN IMMIGRATION 49 is the dog that says it is a good thing to kill the Bostons?' The fellow trembling, excused himself, 'I spoke without meaning harm, but The Dalles Indians say so.' 'Well,' said I, 'The Dalles Indians are dogs for saying so and you also,' and left them. I had done enough to convince them I would not allow them to do wrong to the immigrants with impunity. . . . I immediately^ formed my plan and kept my knowledge of the horrid design of the Indians secret, as I felt certain that if the Americans knew it, these men acting independently of each other would be at once for fighting, which would lead to their total destruction, and I sent two boats with provisions to meet them ; sent provisions to Mr. Burnett . . . being con- fident that the fright I had given the Indians who said it was a good thing to kill the Bos- tons, was known at The Dalles before our boats were there, and that the presence of the Hud- son's Ba}' Compan}^ people, and the assistance they afiPorded the immigrants, Avould deter the Indians from doing them any wrong, and I am happy to be able to say that I entirely suc- ceeded." 4. McLoughlin Provides Seed Wheat. When the immigrants arrived at their desti- nation their trials did not cease. They had come in the fall of the year and were without 50 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY provisions. The problem was to provide for their needs until the next harvest, if, indeed, they should have a harvest. Again McLough- lin came to their relief without solicitation. He furnished the necessary supplies, gave credit, supplied food and clothing and loaned the set- tlers seed wheat and farm implements. All this, it w^ill be remembered was strictly against the regulations and policy of the Hudson's Bay Company. IMcLoughlin assumed personal re- sponsibility for the payment of these debts, to his subsequent sorrow. In referring to the treatment accorded to the immigrants, Mr. Bur- nett, who led the party, wrote in his Journal of travels: "The kindness of Dr. IMcLoughlin to this emigration has been ver}' great. He furnished them with goods and provisions on credit, and such as w^ere sick were sent to the hospital free of expense, w^here they had the strict and careful attendance of Dr. Barclay, a skillful physician. . . . Had it not been for the kindness of this excellent man (McLoughlin) many of us Avould have suffered greatly." Much more could be quoted from immigrants of 1843 to the same effect. 5. The Immigrants of 1844 Receive Aid. The foUow^ing year witnessed an increased immigration. About fourteen hundred persons formed the company. A large part of their THE AMERICAN IMMIGRATION 51 goods and provisions were lost in the long journey. Again Dr. McLoughlin came to the rescue. John Minto, one of the pioneers of 1814, states that the immigrants of that year descended the Columbia River in boats fur- nished from the fort; the hungry were fed and the sick cared for and nursed in the hos- pital. Another pioneer of 1844, Joseph Watt, gives the following account in his ^* Recollec- tions of Dr. John McLoughlin:" "We had eaten the last of our provisions at our last camp, and were told by Hess (wdiom McLough- lin had sent with a bateau to bring the party dow^n the Columbia) that we could get plenty at the fort, with or without money ; that the old Doctor never turned people away hungry. This made us feel quite comfortable, for there was not a dollar among us. . . . We soon found the Doctor in a small room he called his office. . . . We then made know^n to him our wants. We w^ere all out of provisions." McLoughlin offered to supply provisions at the fort for their immediate necessity. "Several of our party broke in, saying: 'Doctor, I have no mone}' to pay you, and I don't know when or how I can pay 3'ou. ' ' Tut, tut, never mind that ; you can't suffer,' said the Doctor. He then commenced at the head man saying, 'Your name, if you please ; how many in the family, 52 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY and what do you desire?' Upon receiving an answer, the Doctor w^rote an order, directing him where to go and have it filled ; then called up the next man, and so on until we were all supplied. . . . Such was the case with every boat-load, and all those who came by land down the train. . . . We did not know that every dol- lar's worth of provisions, etc., he gave us, all advice and assistance in every shape was against the positive orders of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany. ... In this connection I am sorry to say that thousands of dollars virtually loaned by him to settlers at different times in those earl}^ dajs were never paid, as an examination of his books and papers will amply testify." 6. Provisions Furnished to 3,000 Immigrants in 1845, In 1845, about three thousand people came to Oregon. There was quite as much destitu- tion among the new arrivals as there had been during the preceding year. Mrs. Perry, wdio lived at St. Helens, Ore., was one of the immi- grants of 1845. She informed the present Avriter that the company became destitute of provisions long before they reached Oregon. Fortunately, in those days the countless buf- faloes that ranged the plains furnished means of sustenance. Mrs. Perry continued: ''No food ever tasted better than the buffalo meat THE AMERICAN IMMIGRATION 53 dried in the dust as it hung on strings on the side of the immigrant wagon. When the lower Cascades were reached w^e were met by a bateau sent by Dr. McLoughlin with provisions for the party. Each family was supplied wnth flour enough for one baking." Another pioneer of 1845, who has left an account of the arrival of the party in Oregon, was Stephen Staats. ''On our arrival (at Oregon City)," said Mr. Staats, in his address before the Oregon Pioneer As- sociation in 1877, "those of us in advance were kindly and hospitably received by old Dr. Mc- Loughlin. He immediately furnished us with provisions, without money and without price." The immigration of 1845 is the last with which we are concerned here. Before the arrival of the immigrants the following year, IMcLough- lin's resignation from the Hudson's Bay Com- pany had taken effect. 7. Two Important Considerations. In forming any adequate estimate of the assistance rendered by McLoughlin to the early immigrants, two facts must be borne in mind, namely, that his action was in direct opposi- tion to the policy of his Company, and that while he was performing these works of kind- ness he was aware that members of the Metho- dist Mission were trying to rob him of his ex- 5 54 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY tensive land claim at Oregon City. Of this injustice we shall speak presently. In answer to the question whether the secular depart- ment of the Methodist Mission assisted the early immigrants in a way similar to what was done by Dr. McLoughlin, Mr. Holman writes (page 89) : ''If so, I have found no trace nor record of it. Undoubtedly Methodist mission- aries, individually, did many kindly acts to des- titute immigrants. Had Dr. McLoughlin acted with the supineness of the Methodist Mission towards the immigrants of 1843, 1844 and 1845, and especially that of 1843, the consequences would have been terrible," 8. McLoughlin's Resignation. The Hudson's Bay Company, as has been said, was opposed to the humanitarianism dis- played by Dr. McLoughlin. In 1845 Capt. Warre and Lieut. Vavasour, of the British army, were sent to Oregon to make a military report of the condition of the country. They remained in the neighborhood of Vancouver for some time and were present when Mc- Loughlin succored the American immigrants of 1845. They also learned how he had given as- sistance to the settlers of preceding years, and they charged him in their report with being unfaithful to his country and to his company. THE AMERICAN IMMIGRATION 55 As regards the claims of England, it will be remembered that the Oregon Country during McLoughlin^s administration was in a condi- tion of Joint Occupancy as provided by the Convention of 1818 between our country and G-reat Britain. Consequently American citi- zens in the Oregon Country had precisely the same rights as had British subjects. The Hud- son's Bay Company had, indeed, a monopoly of the fur trade from the British government, but with the express stipulation that Ameri- can traders should not be interferred with. The special advantages of the Company had enabled it to maintain a practical monopoly in Oregon for a quarter of a century, and it naturally enough came to regard the Ameri- cans as trespassing on its private reserves. Dr. McLoughlin answered the charge in a dignified manner. He pointed out that his action was for the best interests of the Company; he had neither the right nor the powder to drive the Americans out of the territory; consequently he did his best to prevent them from becom- ing idle and dangerous to the Company. He admitted giving assistance to the early immi- grants, saving the lives and property of the sick and destitute, and of making it possible for the settlers to raise a crop for themselves and for the next year's immigrants, instead of 56 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY permitting them to become dependent on the Company for support. ''If we had not done this," said he, ''Vancouver would have been destroyed and the world would have judged us treated as our inhuman conduct deserved; every officer of the Company, from the Gov- ernor down, would have been covered with obloquy, the Company's business in this de- partment w^ould have been ruined, and the trouble w^hich would have arisen in conse- quence would have probably involved the Brit- ish and American nations in w^ar. If I have been the means, by my measures of arresting any of these evils, I shall be amply repaid by the approbation of my conscience." Sir George Simpson, who was Governor-in- Chief of the Hudson's Ba.y Company, criticised McLoughlin very severely for assisting the Americans. The correspondence became very bitter. McLoughlin declared that no person possessed of common humanity could do other- wise than he had done. This brought back the command from Simpson to render no more as- sistance to the immigrants under any circum- stances. McLoughlin replied with his resigna- tion: "If such is your order I will serve you no longer." That w^as in 1845. Twelve months had to elapse before the resignation became effective. In 1846 he retired to Oregon Citv THE AMERICAN IMMIGRATION 57 to pass his remaining days on the land claim he had taken up as early as 1829. As Chief Factor he had received $12,000 annually and despite the loss of many thousand dollars through the fault of the early immigrants, he was still a wealthy man for those days. He looked forward to a peaceful and happy old age in his new home. But he was destined to bitter disappointment in his hopes. DR. JOHN McLOUGHLIN-" Father of OREGON" CHAPTER VII. THE MACEDONIAN CRY. 1. Canadian Fur-Traders Spread the Faith. The first tidings of the Catholic faith reached the Oregon Indians through the trappers of the various fur-trading companies who had learned their religion from the pioneer missionaries of Quebec and Montreal. Canadian voyageurs formed a large element in the expeditions of Lewis and Clark in 1805 and of John Jacob Astor in 1811. This latter expedition espe- cially, which resulted in establishing at the mouth of the Columbia the first white settle- ment in Oregon, the present flourishing city of Astoria, was accompanied by a number of Catholic Canadians, who became the first settlers in the Willamette Valley. The piety of these voyageurs may be seen in the rather un- usual fact that the early missionaries on their arrival found a church already erected. 2. Iroquois Indians Carry Catholic Faith. Another agency instrumental in bringing the faith to the Far West was the Iroquois In- dians. These Indians, among whose tribe the seeds of faith had been sown at an early date by Father Jogues, were in the employ of the Hud- son's Bay Company at its various forts. The 60 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY trappers and Iroquois told the tribes of Oregon of the religion of the black-robes, taught them the simple praA'ers they remembered, inculcated the observance of Sunday and aroused among them a great desire to receive the ministrations of the black-robes. An Iroquois named Ignace became a veritable apostle to the Flatheads. Such was the effect of his teachings and exam- ple that the Flatheads, together with their neighbors, the Nez Perces sent a deputation to St. Louis in 1831 to ask for priests. (See note at end of chapter.) 3. Deputation Goes to St. Louis. It was to St. Louis rather than to IMontreal that the Indians turned for assistance, for since the days of the great travelers, Lewis and Clark, the traders had renewed their relations annually wdth that city. The deputation consisted of four Indians. They found Clark still living in St. Louis. Two of the company took sick and died after receiving baptism and the last sacra- ments. The return of the remaining members of the deputation is uncertain. They had re- peated the Macedonian cry, '*Come over and help us." The Catholic missionary forces were too weak to respond at once to the appeal. But the presence of the Indians in St. Louis from far distant Oregon on such a mission was the occa- THE MACEDONIAN CRY 61 sion of a movement with far-reaching results. The incident was given publicity in the Protes- tant religious press, and aroused wonderful en- thusiasm and set on foot perhaps the most re- markable missionary campaign in the history of this country ; a campaign which was fraught with important consequences for Oregon. The Methodists came in 1834 under the leadership of Jason Lee (Chap. 2), and Dr. Whitman with Spalding and Gray, of the American Board Mission, arrived at Vancouver in 1836. 4. Young Ignace Meets DeSmet. But to return to our Flatheads. In 1835 the Flathead chief. Insula, went to the Green River rendezvous to meet those whom he was in- formed were the black-gowns. Much to his disappointment he met, not the priests, but Dr. Whitman and Rev. Mr. Parker, of the American Board. On reporting his ill-success it was de- termined that the old Iroquois Ignace and his two sons should go in search of missionaries. They met Bishop Rosati at St. Louis, but were unsuccessful in their quest. Nothing daunted, they renewed the attempt, and a deputation under young Ignace again reached St. Louis in 1839. It was on this occasion that DeSmet came into view for the first time. Young Ig- nace and his companions paused at Council 62 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY Bluffs to visit the priests at St. Joseph Mis- sion, where Father DeSmet was stationed. De- Smet gives us the following record of the meeting : ^'On the 18th of last September two Catholic Iroquois came to visit us. They had been tor twenty-three years among the nations called the Flatheads and Pierced Noses about a thousand Flemish leagues from where we are. I have never seen any savages so fervent in religion. By their instructions and example they have given all that nation a great desire to have themselves baptized. All that tribe strictly ob- serve Sunday and assemble several times a week to pray and sing canticles. The sole object of these good Iroquois Avas to obtain a priest to come and finish what they had happily com- menced. We gave them letters of recommenda- tion for our Eeverend Father Superior at St. Louis." Father DeSmet could scarcely have hoped that it should be his privilege to receive these children of the forest, who so greatly interested him, into the fold of Christ. 5. Indian Missions Confided to Jesuits. Meanwhile certain other events occurred that affected the Oregon Indians. In 1833 the sec- ond Provincial Council of Baltimore petitioned that the Indian missions of the United States THE MACEDONIAN CRY 63 be confided to the care of the Society of Jesus. In July of the following year the Holy See ac- ceded to the request. Hence, when the depu- tation of Indians visited St. Louis and obtained from Bishop Rosati the promise of missionaries, it was to the Jesuit Fathers that the Bishop turn- ed for volunteers. In a letter to the Father Gen- eral of the Society in Rome under date of Octo- ber 20, 1839, Bishop Rosati relates in detail the story of the various journeys of the Indians in search of the black-robes and gives us the fol- lowing interesting account of young Ignace and his companion, Pierre Gaucher : "At last, a third deputation of Indians ar- rived at St. Louis after a long Yojage of three months. It is composed of two Christian Iro- quois. These Indians, who talk French, have edified us by their truly exemplary conduct and interested us by their discourse. The fathers of the college have heard their confessions, and today they approached the holy table at my Mass in the Cathedral church. Afterwards I administered to them the sacrament of Con- firmation ; and in an allocution delivered after the ceremony, I rejoiced with them in their happiness and gave them the hope of soon hav- ing a priest. '* 64 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY 6. DeSmet Sets Out for Oregon. Father DeSmet, deeply impressed by the visit of young Ignace, offered to devote himself to the Indian missions. The offer was gratefully accepted by his Superior and by the Bishop, and DeSmet set out on his first trip to the Oregon country late in March, 1840. Past Westport (noAv Kansas City) he journeyed along the Platte River, through herds of antelope and buffalo, across the countr}^ of the Pawnees and Cheyennes to the South Pass across the Conti- nental Divide. Here, on the 25th of June, he passed from the waters tributary to the Mis- souri to those of the Colorado. "On the 30tli (of June)," says Father DeSmet, ''I came to the rendezvous where a band of Flatheads, who had been notified of my coming, were already waiting for me. This happened on the Green River, a tributary of the Colorado. It is the place where the beaver hunters and the savages of different nations betake themselves every year to sell their peltries and procure such things as they need." On the following Sun- day, Father DeSmet assembled the Indians and trappers for divine worship. In a letter dated February 4, 1841, he writes: "On Sunday, the 5th of July, I had the consolation of celebrating the Holy Sacrifice of Mass suh dio. The altar was placed on an elevation, and surrounded THE MACEDONIAN CRY 65 with boughs and garlands of flowers ; I ad- dressed the congregation in French and in Eng- lish and spoke also by an interpreter to the Flatheads and Snake Indians. It was a spec- tacle truly moving for the heart of a missionary to behold an assembly composed of so many dif- ferent nations, who all assisted at our holy mysteries with great satisfaction. The Cana- dians sang hymns in French and Latin, and the Indians in their native tongue. It was truly a Catholic worship. This place has been called since that time, by the French Canadians, la prairie de la Messe." 7. In the Land of the Shoshones. DeSmet was now in the land of the Shoshone or Snake Indians. Three hundred of their war- riors came into camp at full gallop. DeSmet was invited to a council of some thirty of the principal chiefs. ''I explained to them," he writes, "the Christian doctrines in a compen- dious manner. They were all very attentive ; they then deliberated among themselves for about half an hour and one of the chiefs, ad- dressing me in the name of the others, said : 'Black-gown, the words of thy mouth have found their way to our hearts; they will never be forgotten.' I advised them to select among themselves a wise and prudent man, who, every 66 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY morning and evening, should assemble them to offer to Almighty God their prayers and suppli- cations. The meeting was held the very same evening, and the great chief promulgated a law that for the future the one who would be guilty of theft, or of other disorderly act, should re- ceive a public castigation." This was the only occasion on which Father DeSmet met the Snake Indians. His subsequent trips to Oregon were, with one exception, by a different route. 8. Fervor of the Flatheads. After spending a week at the Green River rendezvous. Father DeSmet and his Flathead guides, together with a dozen Canadians, started northward across the mountains which separate the headwaters of the Colorado from those of the Columbia. They crossed the historic Te- ton's Pass and came to the beautiful valley at the foot of the three Tetons, of which Father DeSmet has left a striking description. In this valley they found the camp of the Flatheads and of their neighbors, the Pend d'Oreilles, numbering about 1,600 persons. DeSmet de- scribes the affecting scenes of his meeting with these children of the wilderness : ' ^ The poles were already up for my lodge, and at my ap- proach, men, women and children came all together to meet me and shake hands and bid THE MACEDONIAN CRY 67 -me welcome. The elders wept with joy, while the young men expressed their satisfaction by . leaps and shouts of happiness. These good sav- ages led me to the lodge of the old chief, called in his language, 'Big Face.' He had a truly patriarchal aspect and received me in the midst of his whole council with the liveliest cordiality. Then I had a long talk on religion with these honest folk. I set a schedule of spiritual exer- cises for them, particularly for the morning and evening prayers in common and for hours of instruction. ''One of the chiefs at once brought me a bell to give the signals, and' on the first evening I gathered all the people about my lodge; I said the evening prayers, and finally they sang to- gether, in a harmony which surprised me very much, several songs of their own composition on the praise of God. This zeal for prayer and instruction (and I preached to them regu- larly four times a day) instead of declining, increased up to the time of my departure." DeSmet was wholly astonished at their fervor and regularity at religious exercises. In speak- ing of this subject on another occasion he ex- claims: "Who would not think that this could only be found in a well-ordered and religious community, and yet it is among the Indians in the defiles and valleys of the Rocky Moun- 68 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY tains." He was likewise astonished at the inno- cence of their lives, and he has left pages of writing in which he extols their virtues, and their docility. It would be difficult to find a parallel in the history of Christian missions for this rapid and permanent transformation of a savage tribe into a Christian community with morning and evening prayers in common. 9. At the Continental Divide. The camp gradually moved up the Henry Fork of the Snake River to Lake Henry, one of the sources of the Columbia River. Here De- Smet climbed the mountain of the Continental Divide, whence he was able to see Red Rock Lake, the ultimate source of the Missouri. ''The two lakes," he writes, ''are scarce eight miles apart. I started for the summit of a high mountain for the better examination of the two fountains that gave birth to these two great rivers ; I saw them falling in cascades from an immense height ; hurling themselves with up- roar from rock to rock ; even at their source they formed two mighty torrents, scarcely more than a hundred paces apart. The Fathers of the Company who are in missionary service on the banks of the Mississippi, from Council Bluffs to the Gulf of Mexico, came to my mind." And his heart went out to the nations on the banks THE MACEDONIAN CRY 69 of the Columbia to whom the faith of Christ was yet to be preached. There he engraved on a soft stone, this inscription: ''Sanctus Igna- tius, Patronus Montium, Die Julii 23, 1840." After two months among the Flatheads, De- Smet determined to return to St. Louis for assistance. He appointed a chief to take his place, to preside over the devotions and to bap- tize the children. He was accompanied bj^ thirty warriors, among whom was the famous chief, Insula, whose futile trip to the rendezvous on the Green River in 1835 we have already mentioned. Father DeSmet reached St. Louis University on the last day of the year, 1840. His first missionary journey to the nations of the Oregon country had been accomplished and, like another Paul, he returned rehearsing all the things that God had done with him, and how he had opened a door of faith to the nations. Note to Chapter VII., par. 2. "Bonneville, Chap, X, mentions this band of Iroquois and also the piety of the Flatheads. and in Chap. XLV Irving not only quotes Bonneville's but also Wj'eth's testimony as to the observance by the Nez Perees of the religious (Catholic) services they had learned from the Hudson's Bay Company traders, especially Pambrun at Fort Walla Walla and from these Iroquois. Wyeth's Journal (published by the Oregon Histoiical Society), also states the same thing more fully than Irving's Bonne- ville," p. 11. This was before any missionaries had gone to either tribe. Father Palladino says that somewhere between 1812 6 70 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY and 1820 a band of about twenty-four Iroquois from the Caughnawaga Mission near Montreal wandered into and across the Rocky Mountains as far west as the Flat- head Valley in what is now Northwest Montana, and being pleased with the country and with the Selish or Flathead tribe, concluded to remain there and inter- marry with them. The leader of this band was Ignace La Mousse, better known among the Indians as Big Ignace or Old Ignace. He became prominent among the Flatheads and being a zealous Catholic taught them what he could of that faith and excited among them so strong a desire for "Black Robes" that in the spring of 1831 a deputation of two Flatheads and two Nez Perces started to St. Louis to obtain priests and arrived there in the autumn of 1831." Marshall, Vol. 2, p. 11. NOTE TO CHAPTER VII, PAR. 3. SEARCH FOR THE WHITE-MAN'S BOOK OF HEAVEN (According to Spalding and Barrows.) Spalding begins the story (Sen. Ex. Doc. No. 37, 41st Cong., 3d Sess., on p. 8): "The Flatheads and Nez Perces had determined to send four of their number to the 'Rising Sun' for that Book from Heaven. They had got word of the Bible and a Saviour in some way from the Iroquois. . . . They fell into the hands of General Clark. He was a Romanist and took them to his church and to entertain them to the theatre. How utterly he failed to meet their wants is revealed in the sad words with which they departed." Then Barrows (History of Oregon puts in quotation marks, as if its authenticity were undoubted, the following speech: " 'I came to you over a trail of many moons from the setting sun. You were the friend of my fathers who have all gone the long way. I came with one eye partly opened, for more light for my people, who sit in darkness. I go back with both eyes closed. How can I go back blind to my blind people? I made my way to you with strong arms, through many enemies and strange lands, that I might carry back much to them. I go back with both arms broken and empty. The two fathers who came with us — the braves of many winters and wars — ^we leave asleep here by your great water and wigwam. They were tired in many moons, and their moccasins wore out. My people sent me to get the white man's Book of THE MACEDONIAN CRY 71 Heaven. You took me whei-e you allow j"our women to dance, as we do not ours, and the Book was not there. You took me where they worship the Great Spirit with candles, and the Book w'as not there. You showed me the images of good spirits and pictures of the good land beyond, but the Book was not among them to tell us the way. I am going back the long, sad trail to my people of the dark land. You make my feet heavy with bur- dens of gifts, and my moccasins will grow old in carry- ing them, but the Book is not among them. When 1 tell my poor, blind people, after one more snow, in the big council, that I did not bring the Book, no word will be spoken by our old men or by our young braves. One by one they will rise up and go out in silence. My people will die in darkness, and they will go on the long path to the other hunting grounds. No white man will go with them and no white man's Book to make the way plain. I have no more words.' " Marshall who has thoroughly exploded these claims of Spalding and Barrows, refers to the above as "the ridiculously improbable speech in which these half-naked savages, just emerging from the stone age of humanity are made to talk of the Bible and of the ceremonial of the Catholic Church "where they worship the Great Spirit with candles," etc., precisely as a very narrow minded and intensely bigoted evangelical Protestant would do. It is as incredible that these Indians could have delivered any such speech as this, as it is that wild, uneducated Apaches or Hottentots or Esquimaux could intelligently discuss the relative merits of Buddhism and Christianity, or write an entertaining and instructive essay on the doctrine of Evolution." Vol. 2, page 16. "Not a trace of that impossible 'farewell speech' of the Flatheads to General Clark has ever been produced in print or in manuscript of an earlier date than Feb- ruary 16th, 1866," page 18. Marshall has discovered that Clark was not only not a Catholic but was a prominent Mason. But facts were never a concern with the authors of the Whitman story. The true account of the coming of the Indians to St. Louis was given by Bishop Rosati, December 31st, 1831, to the editor of "The Annales de L' Association de la Propagation de la Foi" of Lyons, France. We have embodied the substance of it in the narrative of the preceding chapter. 72 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY PAMBRUN'S INFLUENCE. NOTE. — Capt. Bonneville foi;nd that the Nez Perces refused to hunt with him on Sunday, saying that, "it was a sacred day and the Great Spirit would be angry if they devoted it to hunting." On his arrivel at Walla Walla, Pambrun informed Bonneville, says Irving, that "he (Pambrun) had been at some pains to introduce the Christian religion, and in the Roman Catholic form, among them, where it had evidently taken root .... retaining the principal points of faith and its entire pre- cepts of morality." "Polygamy, which once prevailed among them to a great extent, was now rarely indulged. All the crimes denounced by the Christian faith met with severe pun- ishment among them." CHAPTER VIII. THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN MISSION. 1. Courtesy of Hudson's Bay Company Officials. On the feast of the Assumption, 1841, Father DeSmet had again penetrated the Oregon coun- try as far as Fort Hall, on the Snake River. Fort Hall occupied a large place in early Ore- gon history. It was built by Nathaniel Wyeth, in 1834. Wyeth sold it to the Hudson's Bay Company two years later, and consequently at the time of DeSmet 's visit it was under the direction of Dr. John McLoughlin, Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company in Oregon. The local agent, Ermatinger, was prominent in the service of the Company, and his courtesy and generosity to DeSmet were only typical of the treatment accorded to the Catholic mission- aries by the gentlemen of the Hudson's Ba}' Company at all of their forts during the Mc- Loughlin regime. DeSmet speaks of Ermatin- ger in the following terms: '' Although a Protestant by birth, this noble En^ishman gave us a most friendly reception. Not only did he repeatedly invite us to his table, and sell us at first cost, or at one-third of its value, in a country so remote, whatever we re- quired ; but he. also added as pure gifts many articles which he believed would be particu- 74 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY larly acceptable — lie assured us that he would second our ministry among the populous nation of the Snakes, with whom he had frequent inter- course." 2. Foundation of Bitter Root Mission. When Father DeSmet met the Flatheads at Port Hall on this occasion, he was better pre- pared to minister to their needs than on his former journey. He was accompanied by two priests and three brothers. The priests are well known in the early annals of Oregon. They were Fathers Nicholas Point and Gregory Men- garini. DeSmet had been successful, too, in securing financial aid for his missions. Tlie Bishops and clergy of the dioceses of Phil- adelphia and New Orleans had responded very generously to his appeal. On reaching the Bit- ter Root Valley, the home of the Flathead tribe, DeSmet was thus enabled to lay the founda- tions of a permanent mission. He chose a loca- tion on the banks of the Bitter Root River, about twenty-eight miles above its mouth, be- tween the site of old Fort Owen and the present town of Stevensville. St. Mary's Mission has had an eventful history. In 1850 it was closed temporarily, the improvements being leased to Major John Owen. Not until September, 1866, was the mission re-opened in charge of the ven- THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN MISSION 75 erated Father Kavalli. It is today a point of interest for the sightseer in the Bitter Root Val- ley. 3. Tribes of Northern Idaho Seek Aid. While the work of establishing the mission was in progress, Father DeSmet received a del- egation from the Coeur d'Alene nation. They had heard of his arrival among the Flatheads, and came to request his services. ''Father," said one of them to him, *Sve are truly deserv- ing of your pity. We wish to serve the Great Spirit, but we know not how. We want some one to teach us. For this reason we make ap- plication to you." Their wish was granted, and the little tribe received the Christian religion with the same zeal and devotion that the Flat- heads had displayed. The Pend d'Oreilles, too, a numerous tribe who dwelt in what is now northern Idaho, welcomed the missionaries, as also did the Nez Perces. Father DeSmet had little hope of converting the Blackfeet. ''They are the only Indians," he writes, "of whose sal- vation we would have reason to despair if the ways of God were the same as those of men, for they are murderers, thieves, traitors, and all that is wicked." Father Point established a mission among them, but the Blackfeet are pa- gans even to this day. 76 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY 4. Obstacles and Problems Incident to Work. In establishing the Rocky Mountain missions, Father DeSmet and his companions had con- stant recourse to the experience of the Jesuit missionaries among the Indians of Paraguay. He expressly states that he made a Vade IMecum of the Narrative of Muratori, the historian of the Paraguay missions. The field west of the Rocky Mountains suggested to him many simi- larities with that among the native races of South America. The only obstacle to conver- sion in the one case as in the other, was the introduction of the vices of the whites. That alone stood in the way of the ultimate civiliza- tion of the natives. DeSmet refers to his mis- sions as ' 'reductions," a name borrowed from the South American system where it refers to the settlements which the missionaries induced their nomadic neophytes to adopt. He directed Father Point to draw up plans for the mission stations in conformity Avith the plans formerly adopted in the missions of Paraguay and de- scribed in detail by IMuratori. One of the problems that DeSmet had to meet at the outset, was that of Indian marriages. He acted on the principle that there were no valid marriages among the savages, and alleges the following reasons: ''We have not found one, even among the best disposed, who after mar- THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN MISSION 77 riage has been contracted in their own fashion, did not believe himself justified in sending away his first wife whenever he thought fit and taking another. ]\Iany even have several wives at the same time. We are then agreed on this principle, that among them, even to the present time, there has been no marriage, because they have never known well in what its essence and obligation consisted." Consequently, immedi- ately after the ceremony of baptism, the mar- riage ceremony was performed, after the neces- sary instruction had been given. This pro- cedure gave rise to various interesting situa- tions. ''Many who had two wives have retained her whose children were the most numerous, and with all possible respect dismissed the other." Father DeSmet tells of one savage who followed his advice and dismissed his youngest wife, giving her what he would have wished another to give to his sister, if in the same situ- ation, and was reunited to his first wife whom he had forsaken. 5. DeSmet at Fort Colvile. During the closing months of 1841, DeSmet undertook a journey from the Bitter Root Val- ley to Fort Colvile on the Columbia. On All Saints Day he met two encampments of the Kalispel nation, who were to be a great conso- 78 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY lation to the missionary. The chief of the first camp was the famous Chalax. Although they had never seen a priest before, they knew all the prayers DeSmet had taught the Flatheads. This is a striking illustration of the religious sentiment among the Oregon Indians of the in- terior. Their knowledge of these prayers is thus explained by DeSmet: ''They had dep- uted an intelligent young man, who was gifted with a good memory, to meet me. Having learned the praj^ers and canticles and such points as were most essential for salvation, he repeated to the village all that he had heard and seen. It was, as you can easily imagine, a great consolation for me to see the sign of the cross and hear prayers addressed to the great God and His praises sung in a desert of about three hundred miles extent, where a Catholic priest had never been before." 6. A Letter of Mrs. Whitman. The Kalispels had been visited during the summer by ministers who had attempted to dis- affect the minds of the savages toward the Catholic missionaries. The Indians' natural and instinctive reverence for the black-robe, how- ever, soon overcame the prejudice instilled by the hostile ministers. Interesting light is thrown on the missionary situation at this time THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN MISSION 79 by a private letter of the wife of the leader of the American Board Mission. Mrs. Whitman, writing in 1842, and faithfully reflecting the sentiments of her husband, considered that the interests of the Oregon country hung in the balance with the ''prosperity of the cause of Christ on the one hand and the extension of the powers and dominions of Romanism on the other." She continues: ''Romanism stalks abroad on our right hand and on our left, and with daring effrontery, boasts that she is to pre- vail and possess the land. I ask, must it be so 1 The zeal and energy of her priests are without a parallel, and many, both white men and In- dians, wander after the beasts. Two are in the country below us and two are above in the mountains." The priests below at Vancouver were Fathers Blanchet and Demers; those above were DeSmet and Point. Narcissa Whitman bears striking testimony to their zeal and en- ergy. With this letter before us we shall not be surprised to learn that when Dr. Whitman and his wife were massacred by the Indians in 1847, his co-workers were in a temper to lay the blame for the outrage at the door of the Cath- olic missionaries. 80 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY 7. At Lake Pend d'Oreille. Father DeSmet's journey to Fort Colvile led him past the beautiful Lake Pend d'Oreille and the magnificent forest at its head. He was an ardent lover of nature and the record he has left of his impressions on beholding this splendid scene is typical of his many descriptions of na- ture. ''At the head of Lake Pend d'Oreille," he writes, 'Sve traversed a forest which is cer- tainly a w^onder of its kind ; there is probablj^ nothing similar to it in America. The birch, elm and beech, generally small elsewhere, like the toad of La Fontaine that aimed at being as large as the ox, sw-ell out here to twice their size. They would fain rival the cedar, the Go- liath of the forest, who, however, looking down with contempt upon his pitiful companions, 'Eleve aux cieux Son front audacieux.' The birch and the beech at its side, resemble large candelabra around a massive column. Cedars of four and five fathoms in circumference are here very common. The delicate branches of these noble trees entwine themselves above the beech and elm ; their fine, dense and evergreen foliage forming an arch through which the sun's rays never penetrate ; and this lofty arch, sup- ported by thousands of columns, brought to the THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN MISSION 81 mind's eye the idea of an immense temple reared by the hand of nature to the glory of its author." He reached Fort Colvile about the middle of November, and received a very hearty welcome from the commandant, Archibald Macdonald. Fort Colvile was one of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany's stations. Macdonald had been in the employ of the company for many years, having founded Fort Nesqually, until recently the nom- inal seat of the present Catholic diocese of Se- attle. The reception given to DeSmet at Fort Hall was repeated at Fort Colvile, and our mis- sionary voices the general sentiment of his co- workers when he takes occasion of Macdonald 's hospitality to write, "Whenever one finds the gentlemen of the Hudson's Bay Company, one is sure of a good reception. Thej^ do not stop with demonstrations of politeness and affabil- ity ; they anticipate your wishes in order to be of service to you." The record is the same at Forts Vancouver and Hall, Colvile and Nes- qually, O'kanogan and Walla Walla, and the rest. No doubt the influence of Dr. McLoughlin was the determining factor in the attitude of the Company. EFFECTIVENESS OF CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES. NOTE. — To the effectiveness of the work of the Catho- lic missionaries, the author of the "History of Washing- ton" bears the following testimony (Vol. II, p. 167): 82 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY "The Catholic missionaries acquired and retained over the native population west of the Rocky Mountains a far more perfect control than the Protestant missionaries were ever able to secure. Dissensions such as disturbed the harmony of the other missions were among them im- possible. Secular matters never diverted the priests from their work. As soon as they were sufficiently numer- ous an ecclesiastical superior was appointed to have charge and direct their work, and his authority was su- preme. . . . "The zealous priests, always rendering implicit obedi- ence to their ecclesiastical head, troubled themselves about nothing that did not concern the work they were sent to do. They everywhere met a welcome from the Indians such as was rarely given to the Protestants. The 'black-gowns,' as the Indians called them, were al- ways popular." CHAPTER IX. REINFORCEMENTS FROM EUROPE. 1. At the Coeur d'Alene Camp. Retiiriiiiig to his mission in the Bitter Root Valley, in December, 1841, with the provisions and implements secured at Fort Colvile, Father DeSmet spent the winter among his Flathead neophytes. In April, of the following year, he set out on his first visit to Fort Vancouver and the Willamette Valley, a journey of a thousand miles. In the course of his travel on this occa- sion he evangelized whole villages of Kootenais, Kalispels, Coeur d'Alenes, Spokanes and Okan- ogans, establishing in almost every case the practice of morning and evening prayers in each village. He found the Coeur d'Alene camp at the outlet of the great lake which bears their name. The entire camp turned out to welcome him. An extract from one of his let- ters will show how eagerly they listened to his words: '^I spoke to them for two hours on salvation and the end of man's creation, and not one person stirred from his place during the whole time of instruction. As it was almost sunset, I recited the praj^ers I had translated into their language a few days before. At their own request I then continued instructing the chiefs and their people until the night was far 84 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY advanced. About every half hour I paused, and then the pipes would pass round to refresh the listeners and give time for reflection." Never did DeSmet experience so much satisfaction among the Indians as on this occasion, and no- where were his efforts crowned with greater and more permanent success. The Coeur d'Alenes have still the reputation of being the best and most industrious Indians in the Rocky ]\Iountains. 2. Meeting of Fathers Blanchet and DeSmet. The journey from Fort Col vile to Fort Van- couvei* was marred by an unfortunate accident. At one of the rapids of the Columbia, the barge containing DeSmet 's effects capsized, and all the crew, save three, were drowned. Providen- tially, Father DeSmet had gone ashore, intend- ing to walk along the bank while the bargemen directed the boat through the rapids. After brief visits at Forts Okanogan and Walla Walla, he hastened on to Vancouver, where he received a most affecting welcome from the pioneer Catholic missionaries of the Oregon country, Blanchet and Demers. The latter has related how Blanchet and DeSmet ran to meet each other, both prostrating themselves, each begging the other's blessing. It was a meeting fraught with important consequences for the Catholic Church in Oregon. REINFORCEMENTS FROM EUROPE 85 3. Missionary Conference at Vancouver. In his Historical Sketches, Archbishop Blan- chet gives us a few details in addition to those mentioned in DeSmet's Letters, from which it appears that Father Demers met the Jesuit mis- sionary at Fort Vancouver and conducted him to the residence of the Vicar General at St. Paul. DeSmet returned to Vancouver Avith Father Demers, followed a few days later by Father Blanchet, " to deliberate on the inter- ests of the great mission of the Pacific Coast." At the conference it Avas decided that Father Demers should proceed to open a mission in New Caledonia (now British Columbia), leav- ing the Vicar General at St. Paul, while DeSmet should start for St. Louis and Belgium in quest of more workers and material assistance for the missions of Oregon. Dr. ^IcLoughlin, though not yet a Catholic, strongly encouraged Father DeSmet to make every effort to increase the number of Catholic missionaries. On June 30, 1842, DeSmet bade farewell to his new friends at Fort Vancouver, and set out for the East to secure recruits and supplies for the Oregon mis- sions. 4. DeSmet Returns with Reinforcements. Twenty-five months elapsed before Father DeSmet returned again to Fort Vancouver. 7 86 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY After visiting many of the chief cities of Eu- rope, he set sail from Antwerp on the brig, 7/i- fatigahle^ early in January, 1844, accompanied by four Fathers and a lay brother of the Society, and six Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. The Irhfatigable rounded Cape Horn on the 20th of March, 1844, and came in sight of the Oregon coast on the 28th of July. After a terrifying experience they crossed the Columbia bar in safety on the 31st of July, the feast of St. Ignatius. Father DeSmet frequently refers to the ''divine pilotage" which brought them un- harmed through the shallow passage and the treacherous breakers. From Astoria, DeSmet set out for Vancouver in a canoe, leaving his companions to follow when a favorable wind would permit. He was received with open arms by Dr. McLoughlin and by Father Demers, who was planning to leave shortly for Canada to secure Sisters to open a school. From Father Demers he received the good news that the mis- sionaries in the Eocky Mountains had received a strong reinforcement from St. Louis during his absence. The Vicar General, Father Blan- chet, was at St. Paul when informed of De- Smet 's arrival. He immediately set out for Vancouver, bringing a number of his parish- ioners with him and traveling all night by canoe. REINFORCEMENTS FROM EUROPE 87 5. Celebrate the Feast of the Assumption. On the eve of the feast of the Assumption, the newly arrived recruits for the mission left Fort Vancouver for St. Paul. ''Our little squadron," says Father DeSmet, ''consisted of four canoes manned by the parishioners of Father Blanchet, and our own sloop. We sailed up the river and soon entered the Willamette. As night approached, we moored our vessels and encamped upon the shore. (This must have been within the limits of the present city of Portland.) The morning's dawn found us on foot. It was the festival of the glorious As- sumption of the Mother of God. Aided by the nuns, I erected a small altar. Father Blanchet offered the Holy Sacrifice, at which all com- municated. Finally, the 17th, about 11 o'clock, we came in sight of our dear mission of Wil- lamette. A cart was procured to conduct the nuns to their dwelling, which is about five miles from the river. In two hours we were all as- sembled in the chapel of Willamette, to adore and thank our Divine Saviour by the solemn chanting of the Te Deum." 6. St. Francis Xavier Mission Founded. On arriving at St. Paul, DeSmet 's first care was to seek a convenient location for what was intended to be the base of missionary activitiets 88 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY in Oregon. The Methodists offered to sell him their academy, which they had decided to close. Ten years had passed since Jason and Daniel Lee fonnded the Methodist mission in the Wil- lamette Valley ; a large sum of money had been expended in the enterprise, but as an Indian mission it was confessedly a failure. Hence it was decided to suppress it and sell all the prop- erty in 1844. Father DeSmet, however, secured a more advantageous location, where he laid the foundations of the St. Francis Xavier Mission on the Willamette. CHAPTER X. DEVELOPMENTS — ECCLESIASTICAL AND POLITICAL. 1. Father Demers Visits Fort Stuart. The lives of the missionaries were eventful enough during the foHowing j^ears. Father Demers carried the standard of the faith far north to Port Langley on the Frazer River. Missions were opened for the Indians at the Clackamas, Willamette Falls, (Oregon City) and Cascade settlements by the Vicar General, The work Avas growing apace. The score of estab- lishments from Fort Colvile on the Columbia to St. Paul on the Willamette and Fort Langley on the Frazer were taxing the strength of the two zealous laborers. A new field of missionary ac- tivity was proposed among the tribes of New Caledonia (British Columbia), and Father De- mers was dispatched to lay the foundations. Demers pushed north, after leaving the boats at Fort Walla Walla, past Fort Alexander on the Frazer River to Fort Stuart on Stuart Lake, several hundred miles north of Fort Vancouver. Chief Factor Peter Skeen Ogden, who, a few years later, succeeded McLoughlin at Vancou- ver and was so prominent in the rescue of the survivors of the Whitman massacre, was in 90 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY charge of Fort Stuart. Mrs. Ogden^ was a Catholic, and through her kindness Father De- mers found a more hospitable welcome than he could have anticipated. He celebrated High Mass at Fort Stuart on September 16, 1842, in a region hitherto outside the limits of Christian- ity. Before the end of the year he was back to Fort Alexander, where he had a chapel erected by the Indians. In the spring of 1843 he re- turned to civilization in company with Chief Factor Ogden, riding on horseback from Fort Alexander through three or four feet of snow. 2. Douglas Founds Victoria. In the meantime recruits had come to rejoice the heart and aid the labors of the Vicar Gen- eral. On the 17th of September, 1842, Fathers Langlois and Bolduc arrived at St. Paul from Canada via Boston and Cape Horn. On the fol- lowing day (Sunday) High Mass was celebrated with deacon and subdeacon for the first time in the Oregon Country. The new missionaries were not long in finding employment. Chief Factor Douglas set out in March, 1843, to found IThe influence of the Hudson's Bay Company's officials in their dealings with the Indians was due in no small measure to their Indian wives. This was true in the case of Dr. McLoughlin and even to a more notable degree in regard to Ogden who had married an Indian princess. By blood and marriage Princess Julia was re- lated to every important chief of the Northwest, making it safe for her husband to travel where no one else would dare to go. DEVELOPMENTS ECCLESIASTICAL, POLITICAL 91 Victoria on the south end of Vancouver Island. He was accompanied by Father Bolduc. The party went to Fort Nesqually, where they took the steamer, Beaver, for their destination. On Sunday, March 19, Father Bolduc celebrated Mass in the presence of more than one thousand Indians at the newly founded Victoria, and bap- tized over one hundred of their children. 3. Chapel Planned for Oregon City. Meanwhile the Vicar General had bought a lot at Willamette Falls (Oregon City), where he proposed that Father Langlois should build a chapel for the Indians. Dr. McLoughlin had spent the month of December, 1842, in platting his new townsite of Oregon City at Willamette Falls. Settlers began to come in rapidly, and the Indian congregation consequently melted away with even greater rapidity, much to the disappointment of Father Langlois. Three years later Oregon City was to witness the erec- tion of the first Cathedral in the Pacific North- west. 4. Political Situation in 1840. While Father Blanchet was zealously direct- ing the spiritual affairs of the vast, territory committed to his care, political changes were taking place which brought him temporarily 92 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY into public view. To understand his attitude towards the provisional government, we must take a hasty survey of the political situation of the time. The Oregon country was in a state of "joint occupancy;" that is, the dividing line between British and American possessions had not yet been determined, and under a conven- tion of 1818, again renewed in 1826, the coun- try was to be ''free and open to the vessels, citizens and subjects of the two powers." They were not, however, equally protected. The powerful Hudson's Bay Company exercised po- lice protection over the British subjects and the English Parliament had extended the Colonial jurisdiction and civil laws of Canada over all British subjects on the coast. As for the Amer- ican settlers, a writer has appropriately applied to them the words: ''In those days there w^as no king in Israel and everyone did whatsoever was right in his own eyes." In 1840 a number of the American emigrants addressed a petition to Congress asking that body to extend the pro- tection of American civil institutions over Ore- gon. 5. Meeting to Form Provisional Government. There was no prospect of favorable action by Congress when an event occurred which brought the necessity of a civil government DEVELOPMENTS ECCLESIASTICAL, POLITICAL 93 again before the minds of the American settlers. On February 15, 1841, Ewing Young, the pio- neer stockman of the Willamette Valley, died intestate. A meeting was called to settle the disposition of the estate. At this meeting it was recommended that a committee be ap- pointed to draft a constitution and a code of laws for the government of the settlement south of the Columbia River, and a resolution was passed that settlers north of the Columbia not connected with the Hudson's Bay Company might be admitted to the protection of the laws of the proposed government. Another meeting was called for the next day to elect officers and to select the committee. The committee ap- pointed on the following day was headed by Father Blanchet as chairman, contrary to his own wishes. The selection of Father Blanchet for this position was doubtless due to a desire to gain the support of the Canadian settlers for the proposed government, there being in the entire settlement at this time about one hundred and forty Americans and sixty Canadians. Tlie Canadians were, as we have said, protected by. the Canadian government and were in a special manner indebted to the Hudson's Bay Company. They were, for the most part, old employes of the Company and had received material assist- ance from Dr. McLoughlin since their retirement 94 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY from service. The committee was to report at a meeting on June 1 following, but when the appointed time arrived Father Blanchet an- nounced that he had not called the committee together and asked to be excused from serving as chairman, not having time to devote to the work. For this act Father Blanchet has been severely handled by partisan historians of Ore- gon. W. H. Gray, in his so-called ''History of Oregon," is especially abusive. Chief Justice Burnett, in his manuscript Memoirs of an Old Pioneer (in the Bancroft Library), defends Blanchet 's action on the ground that he did not feel equal to the work which the committee had been set to do. It seems more probable, however, that Father Blanchet did not approve of the plan, both because of its small chance of success and because of the atti- tude of its promoters toward the Hudson's Bay Company. The impracticable character of the proposed government may be learned from the fact that the committee accomplished no more under Blanchet 's successor than it had before. The project was opposed by Lieutenant Wilkes, who was at Vancouver at this time in charge of the American exploring expedition on the Pacific. DEVELOPMENTS ECCLESIASTICAL, POLITICAL 95 6. McLoughlin's Contribution to Settlement of Oregon Question. Moreover, the animus of the promoters of the movement doomed it to failure. Opposition to the Hudson's Bay Company v^as the ruling pas- sion with the men who were projecting the new government. This was obvious to Father Blan- chet, and his relations with Dr. McLoughlin made it impossible for him to concur in the movement. The events in Oregon from 1840 to 1844 which laid the foundation of American ascendency in this region were not political meetings or petitions to Congress reciting (falsely) the tyrannous exactions of the Hud- son's Bay Company. American supremacy was established during this period by the annual in- flux of immigrants whose settlement in Oregon was made possible by the grand humanity of old Dr. McLoughlin, who extended over them his protecting hand, saving them from the savages and from famine, caring for their sick, furnish- ing them supplies of food and clothing and shelter for the winter and providing them with seed grain for the spring ; and all this, let it be remembered, at his own loss, contrary to the ex- press orders of his Company and in spite of the calumnies which the Americans already in the country were spreading concerning him. 96 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY 7. Blanchet's Attitude Toward American Govern- ment. On the occasion of the third annual reunion of the Oregon Pioneer Association in 1876, the annual address was delivered by the Hon. Mat- thew P. Deady. In the course of his address, Judge Deady, after very correctly observing that the Catholic missionaries were indifferent as to the ultimate possession of the country, be- cause they were not settlers but ministers of the Gospel, continued as follows: "They (Blanchet and Demers) were, however, subjects of Great Britain, and their influence and teaching among the people was naturally in favor of the author- ity and interest of the Hudson's Bay Company. They discouraged the early attempts at the for- mation of a settlers' government in the coun- try." Archbishop Blanchet, in his ''Historical Sketches" (1878), characterizes this statement as '*a great mistake, " and adds (page 151), ''All this is entirel}^ inaccurate ; their being British subjects had nothing to do with their teaching, nor would it naturally lead them 'to teach their people in favor of the authority and inter- est of a fur-company.' A higher sense of feel- ing than thfs was their rule ; they had a con- science and a faith. Nor did they ever dis- courage the early attempts of a settlers' govern- ment, either Avithin or without their churches. DEVELOPMENTS ECCLESIASTICAL, POLITICAL 97 When, during the meeting in June, 1841, Vicar General Blanchet gave his opinion that it was too soon (and), that as Commodore Wilkes was expected here, the committee should wait for his opinion — that step was by no means an act of opposition, but on the contrary an act of prudence which the Commodore approved of at St. Paul on June 7th, on the ground that the country was too young. And also on a later occasion when he begged that his name be erased from those of the committee, that was done in no sense out of opposition but for want of time. In a word, let all comprehend that the two Catholic missionaries understood too well the delicacy of their position in this new and unsettled country to commit such imprudent blunders." This emphatic declaration of the attitude of the Catholic missionaries must be taken as conclusive in view of the complete ab- sence of evidence which would connect them with the opposition to the provisional govern- ment. 8. Father Blanchet Consecrated Bishop. While these political developments were tak- ing place, a change in ecclesiastical administra- tion was likewise being effected. The bishops of Quebec and Baltimore, acting in concert (it will be recalled that the Oregon country was in 98 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY a state of joint occupancy, and ecclesiastical as well as civil limits were ill-defined), recom- mended to the Holy See to erect their joint mis- sion into a Vicariate Apostolic. The sugges- tion was accepted, and by a brief of December 1, 1843, the new Vicariate was created with Father Blanchet as its Vicar Apostolic with the title of Philadelphia in partibus (subsequently changed to that of Drasa to avoid confusion). The news of this action did not reach Oregon until November 4 of the following year. The Bishop-elect decided to go to Canada for the purpose of receiving episcopal consecration. Appointing Father Demers administrator. Father Blanchet crossed the Columbia bar De- cember 5, 1844, on a ship bearing the name of the river. The voyage to Montreal was by a circuitous route. The ship visited Honolulu, doubled Cape Horn and arrived at Deal, Eng- land. Father Blanchet then went to Liverpool, where he embarked for Boston. He reached Montreal towards the end of June, after a te- dious journey of more than six months. Here on the 25th of July, 1845, he received his con- secration at the hands of the Right Rev. Igna- tius Bourget, Bishop of Montreal. 9. Summary of Six Years' Apostolic Work. A little more than six years had elapsed since Father Blanchet had established the Oregon DEVELOPMENTS ECCLESIASTICAL, POLITICAL 99 Mission. Casting a retrospective glance over those years of missionary activity, he writes in his Historical Sketches: ''At the end of 1844, after six years of efforts disproportioned to the needs of the country, the vast mission of Ore- gon, on the eve of its being erected into a vicariate apostolic, had gained nearly all of the Indian tribes of the (Puget) Sound, Caledonia (British Columbia) and several tribes of the Rocky Mountains and of Lower Oregon. It had brought six thousand pagans to the faith. Nine missions had been founded; five in lower Ore- gon and four at the Rocky Mountains. Eleven churches and chapels had been erected, five in lower Oregon, two in Caledonia, and four at the Rocky Mountains. One thousand Cana- dians, women and children, had been saved from the imminent perils of losing their faith. . . The Catholic Mission possessed two educational establishments, one for boys and the other for girls; the number of its missionaries had been raised to fifteen, without speaking of the treas- ure the mission had in the persons of the good Religieuses of Notre Dame de Namur," (page 153). We have in this brief record of the labors of our missionary priest an earnest of the apos- tolic work that was yet to be wrought by his consecrated hands. 100 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY NOTE. — Snowden tells the following interesting story: "Early in November Father Blanchet received notice that Oregon had been made a vicariate apostolic, of which he was to be the eccelsiastical head, with the title of bishop of Philadelphia. . . . Upon reflection, and con- sideration of the difficulties of the journey, and the time he would need to be absent, he concluded to go to Mex- ico [to be consecrated]. But on arriving there, he found that while the notice of his appointment was reg- ular, and its genuineness undoubted, the canonical law required his own identification as the person for whom the appointment had been made. As identification was impossible where nobody could be found who had ever seen him before, he went to France but found the same difficulty there. He accordingly crossed the Atlantic again to Canada, where, at Montreal, the city from which he had been sent out to the West seven years earlier as a missionary priest, the pioneer head of the Catholic Church in Oregon was duly consecrated." (History of Washington, vol. II, p. 166.) CHAPTER XL CLOSE OF DESMET's OREGON MISSION. 1. Prosperity of Flathead Mission. In June, 1846, DeSmet was back again at Fort Colvile, and was there joined by Father Nobili, who had just returned from a missionary journey to Fort St. James, the capital of New Caledonia, situated on Stuart Lake. The end of June saw him* at St. Francis Xavier mission on the Willamette. A few weeks later he was making his way up the Columbia in an Indian canoe with two blankets unfurled by way of sails. At Walla Walla he experienced the hos- pitality of Mr. McBean, the superintendent of the Fort. Taking farcAvell of Mr. McBean, Father DeSmet visited the Nez Perces, Kalis- pels and Coeur d'Alenes, among whom were stationed Fathers Hoeken, Joset and Point. On the Feast of the Assumption, he was again among the Flatheads in the Bitter Root Valley. St. Mary's mission had prospered, both ma- terially and spiritually. He found the little log church, which had been erected five years before, about to be replaced by a large and handsome structure. Another agreeable sur- prise awaited him. The mechanical skill of Father Ravalli had erected a flour mill and a saw mill. ''The flour mill," writes Father De- 102 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY Smet, ''grinds ten or twelve bushels a day, and the saw mill furnished an abundant sup- ply of planks, posts, etc., for the public and private building of the nation settled here." 2. DeSmet's Influence Among the Indians. On August 16, 1846, Father DeSmet left St. Mary's mission in the Bitter Root and reached the University of St. Louis December 10th. His missionary Avork in Oregon was at an end. His biographers, summing up this period of his career, write as follows: ''The results of his labors from a missionary point of view, were highly successful. The whole Columbia Val- ley had been dotted with infant establishments, some of which had taken on the promise of per- manent growth. He had, indeed, laid the foun- dation well for a spiritual empire throughout that region, and but for the approach of emi- gration, his plans would have brought forth the full fruition that he expected. But most im- portant of all, from a public point of view, was the fact that he had become a great power among the Indian tribes. All now knew him, many personally, the rest by reputation. He was the one Avhite man in whom they had im- plicit faith. The government was beginning to look to him for assistance. The Mormon, the forty-niner, the Oregon emigrant, came to him CLOSE OF DESMET's OREGON MISSION 103 for information and advice. His writings were already known on two continents and his name was a familiar one, at least in the religious world.'* 3. The Yakima Outbreak. Father DeSmet paid two subsequent visits to the scenes of his missionarj^ labors in Ore- gon. The first of these visits was occasioned by the Indian outbreak in 1855, known as the Yakima war. The savages, viewing with alarm the encroachments of the whites upon their lands, formed a league to repel the invaders. Even the peaceful Flatheads and Coeur d'Alenes joined the coalition. The United States government sent General Harney, who had won distinction in several Indian wars, to take charge of the situation. At the per- sonal request of General Harney, Father De- Smet was selected to accompany the expedition in the capacity of chaplain. Their party reached Vancouver late in October, 1858. The news of the cessation of hostilities and the submission of the Indians had already reached the fort. But the Indians, though subdued, were still unfriendly, and there was constant danger of a fresh outbreak. The work of pacification was still to be effected. Upon this 104 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY mission DeSmet left Vancouver, under orders of the commanding general, to visit the moun- tain tribes some 800 miles distant. 4. DeSmet as a Peace Maker. He visited the Catholic soldiers at Fort Walla Walla, and there met Father Congiato, superior of the mission, from whom he received favor- able information concerning the dispositions of the tribes in the mountains. By the middle of April, 1859, Father DeSmet had revisited prac- tically all the tribes among Avhom he had la- bored as a missionary. On April 16, he left the mission of St. Ignatius, among the Pend d'Oreilles, to return to Fort Vancouver. He was accompanied, at his own request, b}^ the chiefs of the different mountain tribes, with the view of renewing the treaty of peace with the General and with the Superintendent of Indian affairs. The successful issue of Father DeSmet 's mission is seen from a letter of Gen- eral Harney, dated Fort Vancouver, June 1, 1859. He writes: ''I have the honor to re- port, for the information of the General-in- Chief, the arrival at this place of a deputation of Indian chiefs, on a visit suggested by my- self through the kind offices of the Eeverend Father DeSmet, who has been with these tribes the past winter. These chiefs have all declared CLOSE OF DESMEt's OREGON MISSION 105 to me the friendly desires which now animate them towards our people. Tw^o of these chiefs — one of the npper Pend d'Oreilles, and the other of the Flatheads — report that the proud- est boast of their respective tribes is the fact that no white man's blood has ever been shed by any one of either nation. This statement is substantiated by Father DeSmet. It gives me pleasure to commend to the General-in- Chief the able and efficient services the Rev- erend Father DeSmet has rendered." Having fulfilled his mission, DeSmet secured his re- lease from the post of chaplain and returned to St. Louis, visiting a score of Indian tribes on the way. It is typical of him that he should have planned, despite his three score years, to cover the entire distance from Vancouver to St. Louis on horseback, a project wdiich he w^as regretfully compelled to abandon because of the unfitness of his horses for so long a journey. 5. Bids Farewell to Oregon Country. Once more, in 1868, DeSmet traversed the Oregon Country, renewing his acquaintances with the various missions and enjoying the hos- pitality of the three pioneer l)ishops of the province, at Portland, Vancouver and Victoria. DeSmet 's missionary labors in Oregon had come to a close before the arrival of Bishop 106 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY A. M. A. Blanchet in the Pacific Northwest. But Archbishop Blanchet and Bishop Demers were co-apostles with him in this new corner of the Lord's vineyard, and with him had borne the burden of the pioneer work. Now, how- ever, the pioneer days were over, and DeSmet, as he set sail from Portland on the 13th day of October, 1863, could bear witness to the al- tered aspect of the country. But with all the signs of progress about him, there was one undeniable feature of the situation which brought sadness to his heart. The Indian tribes for whom he had labored with such apos- tolic zeal, the children of the forest, whose wonderful dispositions for Christian faith and Christian virtue had been his consolation and his glory, were doomed. The seed of the Gospel, which he had sown, had taken root and sprung up and was blossoming forth with the promise of an abundant harvest when the blight came. The white man was in the land. The Indian envied his strength and imitated his vices and fell before both. ''May heaven preserve them from the dangerous contact of the whites!" was DeSmet 's last prayer for his neophytes as he bade farewell to the Oregon Country. CLOSE OF DESMET's OREGON MISSION 107 6. ♦ DeSmet's Views on the Oregon Question. An interesting incident early in August, 1845, brings Father DeSmet's views of public affairs to our attention. The ''Oregon Ques- tion" was then the all-absorbing theme. While DeSmet was ascending the Clark Kiver, he had an unexpected interview on this subject. As he was approaching the forest on the shore of Lake Pend d 'Oreille, several horsemen issued from its depths, and the foremost among them saluted him by name. On nearer approach, Father DeSmet recognized Peter Skeen Ogden, one of the leading representatives of the Hud- son's Bay Companj^ Ogden was accompanied by two English officers, Warre and Vavasour. DeSmet was alarmed by the information he ob- tained from the travelers regarding the Ore- gon question. He writes: ''They were in- vested with orders from their government to take possession of Cape Disappointment, to hoist the English standard, and to erect a fortress for the purpose of securing the en- trance of the river in case of war. In the ' ' Oregon Question, " " John Bull, ' ' without much talk attains his end and secures the most im- portant part of the country; whereas "Uncle Sam" loses himself in words, enveighs and storms ! Many years have passed in debates and useless contention without one single prac- 108 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY tical effort to secure his real or preteiKjed rights." Some writers have gathered from those ex- pressions that Father DeSmet was hostile to the claims of oiir country, and would have pre- ferred to see the Oregon Country fall under British sovereignty. This view was given wide circulation by the Protestant missionar- ies. For example. Dr. Whitman writes from Wailatpu, under date of November 5, 1846: ''The Jesuit Papists would have been in quiet possession of this, the only spot in the western horizon of America, not before their own. It would have been but a small work for them and the friends of the English interests, which they had also fully avowed, to have routed us, and then the country might have slept in their hands forever." The truth is, of course, quite the contrary to these representations. What Father DeSmet feared was that Ore- gon might be lost to the United States, at least temporarily, by indecision on the part of our government. In a letter to Senator Benton, written in 1849, DeSmet recounts a conversation which he had with several British officers on the brig, Modeste, before Port Vancouver, in 1846, in which his attitude towards the Oregon ques- tion is made clear. The party was discussing CLOSE OF DESMET's OREGON MISSION 109 the possibility of the English taking posses- sion, not merely of Oregon, but of California as well. Father DeSmet ventured the opinion that such a conquest was a dream not easily realized, and went on to remark that should the English take possession of Oregon for the moment, it would be an easy matter for the Americans to cross the mountains and wrest the entire country from them almost without a blow. On hearing these sentiments, the cap- tain asked DeSmet somewhat Avarmly: ''Are you a Yankee?" "Not a born one, Captain," was my reply, ''but I have the good luck of being a naturalized American for these many years past; and in these matters all my good wishes are for the side of my adopted coun- try." REV. P. J. DeSMET. S. J. CHAPTER XII. THE ORIGINAL OREGON LAND FRAUD. 1. McLoughlin's Land Claim Disputed. Before McLoiighlin retired to Oregon City in 1846, his land claim had been disputed by mem- bers of the Methodist Mission. Late years have brought into prominence the Oregon land frauds. The events which we shall now nar- rate may well be called the ''original Oregon land fraud.'' In 1829, several years before the arrival of any of the mission party, McLoughlin had taken possession for himself as a personal claim, of the present site of Oregon City with the water power at the falls of the Willamette River and also of an island situated near the crest of the falls, later known as Governor's Island, but now called Abernethy Island. The position of the island made it extremely valuable for the use of water power. It is now the site of a station of the Portland General Electric Com- pany. In 1829, Dr. McLoughlin began the erection of a saw mill at the falls. Three years later he had a mill race blasted out of the rocks at the head of the island. In 1840 Rev. Jason Lee (see page 6), superintendent of the Metho- dist Mission, applied to him for the loan of some timbers with which to erect the mission build- 112 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY ing. McLoug'hlin gave him the timbers and a piece of land on which to ])nihl. Within a short time after the arrival of the ship, Lausanne, in 1840, with the ''great reinforcement" for the Methodist Mission, there appeared a disposition on the part of Rev. Alvin Waller, who Avas given charge of the local mission near Oregon City, to defraud McLonghlin of his land claim. The following year another representative of the mission, named Hathaway, began to build on the island. IMcLoughlin protested and Hathaway ceased building. In 1842 McLough- lin became a Catholic. He spent the month of December of that j^ear on his claim laying it out into blocks and lots and gave it the name, "Oregon City." Five days after McLougldin's conversion, Hathawaj^ deeded the island to the Oregon Milling Company, most of the memliers of which belonged to the Methodist Mission. By this deed Hathaway conveyed to that com- pany all his ''rights" (sic) to the island, and further undertook to defend the title against all persons (the Lord excepted)." Of course, Hathaway had absolutely no "right" to the island. He had "jumped" jMcLoughlin's claim. The island was subsequently "conveyed" to Governor Abernethy ; whence the name Aber- nethy Island. In 1849 Abernethy in turn con- veyed his title to the island to W. V. Bryant, THE ORIGINAL OREGON LAND FRAUD 113 the first territorial Chief Justice of Oregon. Judge Bryant's district included Oregon City. One can readily see what chance of legal re- dress now remained. While Hathaway was re- ligiously conveying rights and titles to an island he never owned, the Rev. Alvin Waller retained legal counsel and laid claim to all of the rest of McLoughlin's land. In order to avoid trouble McLoughlin bought up Waller's ridiculous pretensions. For the consideration of five hundred dollars Waller surrendered to IMcLoughlin ''all claims, rights and pretensions whatsoever" to the tract of land in dispute. This was in 1844. Apparentl}^ the trouble was definitely settled ; in reality it had just begun. 2. The Oregon Donation Land Act. The conspiracy against ]McLouglilin assumed definite form in 1849, when Samuel Thurston was elected Territorial Delegate to Congress from Oregon through the efforts of the Mission Party. The legislation in which Oregon was chiefly interested at that time was the passage of a land bill by w4iich settlers could obtain a legal title to their land. With Thurston manipulating this piece of legislation, we come to the event we have called the original Oregon land fraud. The Oregon Donation Land Bill, the passage of which was urged by Thurston, 114 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY was so framed as to secure to the early set- tlers a title to their lands, with one specific exception. By the terms of section 11 of the bill, the Oregon City Claim (i. e., Dr. McLough- lin's land) was to be put at the disposal of the Legislative Assembly for the establishment of a University. It was further provided that Abernethy Island and such lots in Oregon City as were held by any one except Dr. John McLoughlin should be secured to the respective holders. The effect of this section of the bill was simply to confiscate by act of Congress all of McLoughlin 's claim, amounting to nearly six hundred and forty acres, including the site of Oregon City. All persons who had secured pieces of land from McLoughlin, previous to March 4, 1849, whether fraudulently, e. g., the Abernethy Island, or by purchase, were to be confirmed in their title. To secure the passage of a bill containing such an iniquitous pro- vision required more than ordinary duplicity. Thurston came to the task fully prepared to carry out the behests of those to whom he must look for re-election. To compass his ends he issued a letter to the members of the House of Representatives concerning the proposed bill, and in particular, concerning section 11. The part of the letter devoted to the discussion of McLoughlin 's claim is a tissue of deliberate THE ORIGINAL OREGON LAND FRAUD 115 falsehoods. Among other mis-statements, Thurs- ton declared: ''This claim has been wrong- fully wrested by Dr. McLoughlin from Amer- ican citizens. The Methodist Mission first took the claim, with the view of establishing here their mills and missions. They were forced to leave it under the fear of having the savages of Oregon let loose upon them; and, successively, a number of citizens of our country have been driven from it while Dr. McLoughlin was yet at the head of the Hudson's Bay Company, west of the Rocky Mountains. Having at his com- mand the Indians of the country, he has held it by violence and dint of threats up to this time." Again: 'He (McLoughlin) is still an English- man, still connected in interests with the Hud- son's Bay Company, and still refuses to file his intention to become an American citizen." 3. Thurston's Calumnies. McLoughlin had declared his intention of becoming an American citizen on May 30th of the previous year and had voted at the gen- eral election in June against Thurston, as Thurston was well aware. The calumny that McLoughlin had wrongfully wrested the claim from American citizens was so outrageous that Thurston thought it best to keep his letter to the Representatives from becoming known in 116 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY Oregon until after the passage of the bill. The only copy of the letter that reached Oregon before that date bore on the reverse side in Thurston's handwriting the following note: ''Keep this still till next mail, when I shall send them generall5^ The debate on the Cal- ifornia bill closes next Tuesday, when I hope to get it passed — my land bill ; keep dark till next mail. THURSTON. ''June 9, 1850." No wonder he wished the proceedings to be kept in the dark. They would not bear the light. In the debate on the bill, Thurston declared that the Hudson's Bay Company had been wag- ing war on our country for forty years. He continued: "Dr. McLoughlin has been their chief fugleman, first to cheat our government out of the w^hole country, and next to prevent its settlement. In 1845 he sent an express to Fort Hall, 800 miles, to warn American emi- grants that if they attempted to come to Wil- lamette they would all be cut off; they went and none were cut off. How, sir, would you reward Benedict Arnold, were he living? He fought the battle of the country, yet by one act of treason forfeited the respect of that coun- tr3^ A bill for his relief would fail, I am sure ; yet this bill proposes to reward those THE ORIGINAL OREGON LAND FRAUD 117 who are now, have been, and ever w^ill be more hostile to our country — more dangerous because more hidden, more Jesuitical." 4. Friends and Enemies Pass Resolutions. As soon as it became generally known that Thurston was resorting to falsehood and cal- umny to deprive Dr. McLoughlin of his land a public mass meeting of protest was held in Oregon City. A resolution was drafted repudi- ating the selection of McLoughlin 's property for a university reservation, declaring that ]\Ic- Loughlin "merits the gratitude of multitudes of persons in Oregon for the timely and long continued assistance rendered by him in the settlement of the territory." A memorial was sent to Congress setting forth that McLoughlin was justly entitled to his land claim. But the bill had become a law before the memorial reached Washington and the attention of Con- gress was being devoted to more important concerns than the property rights of an old man in the wilds of Oregon. Shortly after the passage of the bill a mass meeting was held at Salem, the stronghold of the Mission Party. Resolutions were drawn up strongly upholding the action of Thurston; declaring that 'Hhe Hudson's Bay Company, with Dr. McLoughlin as their chief fugleman, have used every means 9 118 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY that could be invented by avarice, duplicity, cunning and deception to retard American set- tlement, and cripple the growth of American interests in Oregon." And the framers of this resolution were the men whom Dr. ^IcLouglin had fed and clothed and housed. He had cared for their families and nursed their sick. He had loaned them thousands of dollars which they had never returned. He had saved them from the cruelty of the Indians. And this was their expression of gratitude ! 5. Last Years of McLoughlin. In 1845 the lower house of the Oregon Legis- lature refused to memorialize Congress in favor of the restitution of INIcLoughlin's claim to its rightful owner, and even a resolution express- ing the gratitude of Oregon for ]\IcLoughlin's work was indefinitely postponed. And so the father and benefactor of Oregon became im- poverished ; his lands confiscated, his extensive improvements rendered useless and unsalable, his very home taken from him by the iniquitous conspiracy. He was indeed suffered to occupy the house simply because no one had any inter- est in evicting him. It was no longer his. In a document already referred to. Dr. ]\IcLough- lin thus sums up the results of his labors in the Oregon country: "I founded this settlement THE ORIGINAL OREGON LAND FRAUD 119 and prevented a war between the United States and Great Britain, and for doing this peaceably and quietly, I was treated by the British in such a manner that from self-respect I resigned my situation in the Hudson's Bay Compan^^'s ser- vice, by which I sacrificed $12,000 per annum, and the 'Oregon Land Bill' shows the treatment I received from the Americans." Fortified by the last rites of the Church, Dr. McLoughlin died in Oregon City, September 3, 1857, a broken-hearted man. His body lies in the church-yard. The place is marked by a simple stone. 6. Tribute to the Memory of McLoughlin. In October, 1862, three years after Oregon had become a State, the Legislative Assembly did tardy justice to the memory of McLoughlin by returning to his heirs the confiscated land claim. Twelve years had elapsed since the pas- sage of the Oregon Donation Land Act reduced him to destitution, and five years had flown since his body had been laid in the church- yard. Dr. John INIcLoughlin was beyond power of legislative enactments, but the State of Ore- gon did credit to itself b.y this official condem- nation of the conspiracy against its greatest benefactor. Still no appropriate recognition of McLoughlin has yet been shown by the Ore- 120 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY gon country. In 1887 the people of Portland had a life-sized portrait of McLoughlin painted for the Oregon Pioneer Association. The por- trait now hangs in the place of honor in the Senate chamber of State Capitol at Salem. In St. John's Catholic Church, at Oregon City, is to be seen a memorial window representing McLoughlin as a knight of St. Gregory. The most fitting monument yet erected to his mem- ory is the parish school, at Oregon City, named in his honor the ''McLoughlin Institute," which was dedicated with fitting ceremonies and ad- dresses on Sunday, October 6, 1907. The Catholics of the Pacific Northwest may claim as their own the ''Father of Oregon," they have a hero that is found without blem- ish. "Of all the men," says ^Ir. Holman, in the concluding paragraph of his "Life of Mc- Loughlin," "whose lives and deeds are essen- tial parts of the history of the Oregon country. Dr. John McLoughlin stands supremely first — there is no second. In contemplating him all others sink into comparative insignificance. You may search the world over, and all its his- tories from the beginning of civilization to to- day, and you will find no nobler, no grander man than Dr. John McLoughlin. His life and character illustrate the kinship of man to God. THE ORIGINAL OREGON LAND FRAUD 121 He was God-like in his great fatherhood, in his great strength, in his great power, and in the exercise of his strength and of his power; he was Christ-like in his gentl-eness, in his tender- ness, in his loving-kindness, and in his hu- manity." MOST REV. F. N. BLANCHET CHAPTER XIII. THE FIRST CATHOLIC SCHOOLS IN OREGON. 1. St. Joseph's College Founded. One of the earliest cares of Father Blanchet was the establishment of schools for the chil- dren committed to his pastoral solicitude. A wealthy French gentleman, Joseph Larocque, made it possible to open a college for boys at St. Paul. Larocque, whose home was in Paris, had at an early date been heavily interested in the Northwest Company, and after the amalgamation of that Company with the Hud- son's Bay Company in 1821, became chief trader in the latter company. He donated 4,800 francs to Father Blanchet for the erection of a school. Work was begun in 1842 and the school opened in the fall of 1843 under the name of "St. Jo- seph's College," in honor of its generous foun- der. On the 17th of October the college was blessed with solemn ceremony in the presence of a large concourse of people. Father Lang- lois was placed in charge. On the first day thirty boys entered as boarders, chiefly metis, sons of farmers except one Indian bo}^ who was the son of a chief. Some distance from the col- lege there was in process of erection a convent for Sisters. In October of the same year Father Blanchet accompanied Dr. McLoughlin to Ore- 124 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY gon City and selected a block for a Catholic church — the site of the present St. John's Church and McLoughlin Institute, Oregon City. Early in 1844 the first pastor of Oregon City was appointed in the person of Father Demers, who celebrated Mass there for the first time on Sunday, March 3, of that year. 2. Sisters of Notre Dame Arrive. A second reinforcement for the Catholic mis- sions came early in August when Father De- Smet returned from Europe accompanied by four priests of the Society and by six Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. These were Sisters Ignatius of Loyola, Cornelia, Aloysia, Albine, Norbertine and Catherine. Father DeSmet at once established the Jesuit mission of St. Francis Xavier on a site donated for that purpose by the Vicar General. The Sisters of Notre Dame also took possession of the convent which was under construction in preparation for their arrival, but which, unfor- tunately, owing to the scarcity of mechanics, was still wanting in doors and sashes. The Sis- ters were soon initiated into the requirements of pioneer life. One might be seen handling the plane, another glazing, and still others painting the Avindows and doors. More than thirty children of the Canadian farmers were THE FIRST CATHOLIC SCHOOLS IN OREGON 125 quickly enrolled in the new Academy. The Sisters entered their new convent early in the month of October and a few days later their humble chapel was solemnly consecrated by Father Blanchet. So immediate was the suc- cess of the Sisters that Father DeSmet, writing under date of October 9, 1844, says that another foundation was projected at ''Cuhute" (Ore- gon City), where the Sisters opened their sec- ond school in Oregon in the fall of 1848. In a postscript to the letter above mentioned. Father DeSmet writes as follows: ''On the 9th of September the good Sisters commenced in- structing women and children who Avere pre- paring for their first communion. As their house was not yet habitable they were obliged to give their instructions in the open air. In three days' time they had already nineteen pupils from sixteen to sixty years of age, all of whom came from a distance bringing with them provisions for several days and sleeping in the woods, exposed to all the inclemencies of the weather. It is easy to conceive by this how eager these poor people are for instruction." Later, Father DeSmet writes that the Sisters are anxious for the completion of their new home as they have promised thirty Canadian pupils whose tuition would enable the Sisters to give gratuitous support and protection to the hapless 126 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY orphans of the forest. He gives what he terms *'the brilliant prospectus of the Academy, in which he sets forth the quarterly tuition charges in terms of flour, meat, potatoes, eggs, salt, candles, tea and rice." Notwithstanding this crude and primitive method of collecting tuition Father DeSmet was impressed with the bright prospects for the future. 3. Captain Bailey Visits St. Paul. We learn something of the internal affairs of the boys' school from letters of the Sisters. In July, 1844, Captain Bailey of the British frigate JModeste, accompanied by two officers, came to St. Paul and assisted at services on Sunday in the chapel. The children from the college and from the parish were arranged in two rows in the sanctuary. The British captain was much impressed by the excellent discipline which the pupils manifested. A public examination at which he assisted was held at the college in French and English, writing and arithmetic. The following summer we read that Vicar Gen- eral Demers came to examine the pupils of the Academy before the distribution of prizes, and gave a talk to the parents on their duties. THE FIRST CATHOLIC SCHOOLS IN OREGON 127 4. Spiritual Exercises at the Academy. The spiritual exercises of the Sisters possess an interest of their own. On November 7th, 1844, they entered on an eight-day retreat with Father DeVos as Director. This was the first religous retreat in the Oregon country. The Forty Hours devotion was held for the first time at the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6, 1845, just six years after the blessing of the Church. On October 2, 1845, the children were enrolled in the scapular and two of them consecrated to St. Agnes, marking the beginning of a Sodality. Not to be omitted is a reference to a miraculous statue of our Lady of Seven Dolors, a gift of the ^^Orphelines" of Lima, Peru. Its shrine stood in a secluded corner of the grounds. A beginning of domestic science is noted in that the children are taught to make their own clothing, and some who had attained greater proficiency were engaged in embroidering a rochet for the Archbishop on his return. 5. Idyllic Life at St. Paul. It was of this period that an old pioneer writes as follows concerning the settlement at St. Paul: ''There was a time when French Prairie was the home spot of the Pacific North- west, when the Americans had not yet gone into 128 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY rendezvous on the Missouri border and had not taught their prairie schooners the long way across the plains. In those ante-pioneer daj's the Canadian French had made their homes on the beautiful prairie and in the absence of their country-women had espoused the dusky maid- ens of the Calapooias, who raised for them bright eyed groups of half-breed boys and girls. The Catholic Fathers were here to bless the union and guide the lives of these youths, and the condition of these people was one of peace and plenty. The earliest comers among the Americans took homes among them and speak with pleasant memories of the quiet, peaceful, faraway life which the French and half-breed population enjoyed. These remember seeing the young people assemble on the Sabbath where is now the Catholic Church of St. Paul and the pictures they draw are charmingly illus- trative of the idyllic period that Oregon passed through and the quiet pastoral lives these Cana- dians lived." 6. Father Blanchet Acts as Judge. Duflot de Mofras, who visited Oregon in 1844 and spent some days with the Vicar General at St. Paul, recounts how Father Blanchet acted as judge over his flock: A French Canadian was accused of stealing a horse from an Ameri- THE FIRST CATHOLIC SCHOOLS IN OREGON 129 can. An exhibition of patriarchal justice was given. The fathers of the families of the com- munity were assembled. The case was tried, and the culprit found guilty. Father Blanchet rendered judgment that the thief should restore the horse and should remain at the door of the church for three months during services. The decision, adds Mofras, was accepted without question. (Vol. II, page 218.) The return of the Archbishop in 1817 brought to the Sisters of Notre Dame a reinforcement in the persons of Sister Renilda and her com- panions, which enabled them in pursuance of the plan already mentioned to open a school at Oregon City on September 12, 1848. The Arch- bishop, too, late in the month of December, transferred his residence to Oregon City, the official seat of his vast diocese. 7. Sudden Closing of the Schools. The year 1849 was to open a series of mis- fortunes for the Church in Oregon. Gold had been discovered in California and a large emi- gration of families from French Prairie for the mines took place in May. As a consequence, St. Joseph's College for boys, wdiich had been founded in 1844, was closed in June, 1849, and never reopened its doors. The consequence of the emigration from St. Paul was the subse- 130 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY quent closing of the Jesuit Mission of St. Fran- cis Xavier on the Willamette, and the with- drawal of the Fathers of that Society from mission work in Oregon. The Sisters of Notre Dame were forced by the same circumstances to abandon their school at St. Paul in 1852. Meanwhile a similar misfortune had overtaken Oregon Cit}-. It will be recalled that by the terms of the Oregon Donation Land Act of 1849, the Oregon City claim was appropriated by the state. As a result of this act no land could be sold in Oregon City and the town rapidly declined. Hence in 1853 the Sisters of Notre Dame were led to close their remaining school at the Falls of the Willamette, and the Arch- diocese was bereft at once of all its religious and of its educational institutions. CHAPTER XIV. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE HIERARCHY. 1. Establishment of Ecclesiastical Province. Immediately after his consecration in Mon- treal as Titular Bishop of Drasa, Bishop Blan- chet decided to go to Europe before returning to his Vicariate. His purpose was to obtain from Rome assistant Bishops for the vast terri- tory under his jurisdiction, to secure new mis- sionaries and more Sisters and to collect funds to enable him to build the churches and schools which he saw to be necessary in the immediate future. This task occupied him from October, 1845, to October, 1846. He first visited Bel- gium in order to secure a reinforcement of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. It will be recalled that six Sisters of this community had accompanied Father DeSmet to Oregon in 1844. He was successful in getting the promise of seven additional Sisters. The Bishop then vis- ited the principal cities of Belgium and every- where aroused the greatest interest in his mis- sion. He next turned his steps toward the Eternal City, spending Christmas at Marseilles and reaching Rome January 5th, 1846. He ob- tained an audience with Pope Gregory XVI and was subsequently received several times by his Holiness. Acting upon the advice of influential 132 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY friends in Rome he decided to request of the Holy See the establishment of an ecclesiastical province with an archbishop and several suf- fragans. To this end he presented to the Con- gregation of the Propaganda an extended me- morial dealing with the history and conditions and needs of his vast Vicariate. The result of his petition was that by Briefs dated July 24th. 1846, the Vicariate was erected into an ecclesi- astical province with the three Sees of Oregon City, Walla Walla and Vancouver Island. Five other districts were also named in the Briefs, namely: Fort Hall, Fort Colvile, New Cale- donia, Nesqually and Princess Charlotte Island, ])ut these were associated in administration, with the three already mentioned. Bishop Blanchet was promoted to the position of Arch- bishop of Oregon City and Father Demers to that of Bishop of Vancouver Island, while a brother of the new Archbishop, the Reverend A. M. A. Blanchet, Canon of the Montreal Cathedral, was selected as Bishop of Walla Walla. 2. Secures Recruits and Aid in Europe. Bishop Blanchet remained in Rome four months, visiting with all the delight of a pious pilgrim the great basilicas and churches of the Holy City and the other monuments of Chris- ESTABLISHMENT OF THE HIERARCHY 133 tian antiquity. The catacombs were an object of his special devotion, and before leaving Rome he obtained relics of Saints Jovian, Sev- erin, Flavia and Victoria. On his return to Oregon these relics were distributed as special gifts to various churches and institutions, where they are still preserved. Leaving Rome on the 8th of May the Bishop returned to France by way of Geneva and Marseilles. He visited some days at Avignon and spent a week as guest at the Grand Seminary of Lyons. Here he addressed the three hundred semina- rians and secured three of them for the Oregon Mission. These were B. Delorme, afterwards Vicar General of Oregon City, and the author of an extended heroic poem entitled "L 'Homme — Dieu."; J. F. Jayol, and F. Veyret. Bishop Blanchet now visited Prussia, Bavaria and Austria. Leaving Paris in the middle of June he visited Aix-La-Chapelle and Cologne, and then ascending the Rhine stopped at Bonn and Mayence and other of the Rhine cities, finally reaching Munich, where he spent a week as a guest of the discalced Fathers of St. Au- gustine. Descending the Danube he remained for three weeks a guest of the Redemptorist Fathers at Vienna. It was not until his return to Paris, however, that he learned of the suc- cessful termination of his representations in 10 134 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY Rome and his promotion to the Metropolitan See of Oregon City. In his long journey he was everywhere met with the warm sympathy of the highest authori- ties in Church and State. He was received in audience by the King and Queen of Belgium, by the King of Bavaria, by the Emperor and Empress of Austria, and three times b}' Louis Philippe, King of France. The last named sovereign secured for him a gift amounting to nearly eighteen thousand francs for the Ore- gon Mission. He received many other valuable gifts, and the railroads of Belgium and France gave many favors to his party. 3. The Archbishop Returns to Oregon. It was not until the 22nd of February, 1847, that the Archbishop set sail for Oregon from Brest with his company in the L'Etoile du Matin. He brought with him twenty-one per- sons for the Oregon Mission. These were seven Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, three Jesuit Fathers and three Brothers of the Society, five secular priests, namely, Le Bas, IMcCormick, Deleveau, Pretot and Veyret, two deacons, B. Delorme and J. F. Jaj^ol, and a student, T. Mesplie. After a journey of nearly six months the L'Etoile du INIatin reached the mouth of the Willamette River, and the party disem- ESTABLISHMENT OF THE HIERARCHY 135 barked on the 19tli of August, 1847. On the 25th of that month the Archbishop reached his new Cathedral at Oregon City and celebrated Mass there the following day. He proceeded thence to his old missionary field at St. Paul and robed in the episcopal vestments chanted the Te Deum in thanksgiving for his happy re- turn and gave benediction of the Blessed Sacra- ment to the large concourse of Catholics and non-Catholics who gathered to greet him. 4. Activity of Vicar General Demers. During the absence of Archbishop Blanchet in 1845-6 the Church in Oregon was adminis- tered by Vicar General Demers. Father De Vos was stationed at Oregon Cily and was in charge of Vancouver, and Father Accolti, S. J., Superior of the Jesuit Mission at St. Paul. Father Bolduc remained in charge of St. Jo- seph's College. Great building activity was manifested at St. Paul at this time. St. Jo- seph's College was enlarged. A new chapel was in course of construction for the Sisters, who had more than forty children in their school. The corner stone of a new brick church (the first brick church in Oregon) was blessed by Father Demers on May 26, 1846, and the church w^as dedicated on November 1st of the same vear. Meanwhile Father Vercruisse had eon- 136 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY structed a church at St. Louis. The new church at Oregon City, which was destined to be the Cathedral, had been blessed and opened for divine worship on February 8, 1846. Here the efforts of Father De Vos met with great suc- cess and his zeal was crowned by the reception of a number of distinguished converts, among whom were Dr. J. E. Long, Secretary of the Provisional Government, and Peter H. Burnett, Chief Justice of Oregon. (See note at end of Chapter.) 5. First Ordination in Oregon. On Sunday, September 12th, the Archbishop administered the sacrament of Confirmation at St. Paul and on the folloAving Sunday raised Mr. Jayol to the Priesthood, this being the first ordination in the Oregon Country. The Arch- bishop revisited his missions at Fort Vancouver and the St. Francis Xavier mission at Cowlitz, administering confirmation in each place. On the 31st of October he was back at St. Paul and ordained the future Vicar General Delorme to the priesthood. 6. Arrival of the Bishop of Walla Walla. Right Rev. A. M. Blanchet, who had been con- secrated Bishop of Walla Walla in Montreal on September 27th, 1846, arrived on September ESTABLISHMENT OF THE HIERARCHY 137 5th at Fort Walla Walla after a long journey of five months in wagons across the plains by wa3^ of St. Louis. The Bishop of Walla Walla was accompanied by four Oblate Fathers of Marseilles and Father" Brouillet, as Vicar Gen- eral, and also Father Rousseau and William Le- cleaire, deacon. The Bishop and his part^^ were received very cordially by Mr. McBean, com- mandant of the Fort, who with his family were Catholics and who figured in the Whitman disaster which was then imminent. The Bishop of Walla Walla established his mission a short distance from the mission of Dr. AVhitman, among the Umatilla Indians at Wailatpu. 7. Consecration of Bishop Demers. While the new episcopal See was thus being established at Walla Walla, Archbishop Blan- chet was preparing to consecrate the Bishop- elect of Vancouver Island. To this dignity had been called Father Demers, the companion of Father Blanchet in the first missionary labors in Oregon. The rejoicing with which the Arch- bishop's return was greeted culminated in the Feast of St. Andrew, November 80th, 1847, in the consecration of Bishop-elect Demers, at St. Paul, in the presence of numerous clergy and a large concourse of the faithful. The out- look for the new ecclesiastical province was 138 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY bright and as the pioneer Bishops looked over the field which they had so toilfully entered nine j^ears earlier there seemed to be promise on every hand of a bountiful harvest to crown their labors. PETER H. BURNETT. 8. Early Life of Burnett. Among- the most notable of the Oregon pioneers was Peter H. Burnett, first Chief Justice of Oregon and later first Governor of California. The following account of his life is furnished by himself. He was born of Baptist parents in 1808. but grew up without belief in Christianity. In 1840 he joined the Disciples or Camp- hellites. He was one of the prominent leaders of the g-reat emigration of 1843 and was afterwards prominently identified with the provisional government of Oregon in a legal capacity. Of his conversion he writes as follows: "While I was temporally located at Fort Vancouver I attended High Mass as a mere spectator on Christmas at midnight (1843). I had never witnessed anything like it before, and the profound solemnity of the services, the intense yet calm fervor of the worshippers, the great and marked difference between the two forms of worship, and the instantaneous reflection that this was the church claiming- to be the only true church did make the deepest impression on me for the moment. In all my religious experience I had never felt an impulse so profound, so touching. But as I knew nothing of the reasons upon which the Catholic theory assumes to rest, I soon thought I saw errors that I could not sanction. And then there came a painful revulsion in my feel- ings. . . . 9. Reads the Campbell-Purcell Debate. "My knowledge of the Catholic theory was exceedingly general and indefinite. I had never read a work in its favor, and had never heard but two Catholic sermons and they were not on controversial points. In the fall of 1844 a Baptist preacher settled in my immediate ESTABLISHMENT OF THE HIERARCHY 139 neighborhood who had the published debate between Campbell and Purcell. I borrowed and read the book. But while the attentive reading of the debate did not convince me of the entire truth of the Catholic theory, I was greatly astonished to find that so much could be said in its support. On many points and those of great importance it was clear to my mind that Mr. Campbell had been overthrown. I arose from the reading of that discussion still a Protestant. . . . "My mind was, therefore, left in a state of restless uncertainty; and I determined to examine the question between Catholics and Protestants thoroughly. I pro- cured all the works on both sides within my reach. The investigation occupied all my spare time for about eighteen months. I examined carefully, prayerfully and earnestly until I was satisfied beyond a doubt that the old church was the true and the only true church." (The Path which led a Protestant Lawyer to the Catholic Church. Preface). 10. Received in the Church. "After an impartial and calm investigation I became convinced of the truth of the Catholic theory and went to Oregon City in June, 1846, to join the Old Church. There I found the heroic and saintly Father DeVos who had spent one or more years among the Flathead In- dians. He received me into the church." (Recollections of an Old Pioneer, page 189.) The Conversion of Dr. McLoughlin. The current view of McLoughlin's religious opinions has been given above on pages 3 and 13. Since those pages have gone to press, Rev. A. Hillebrand has submitted considerations which sat- isfy the present writer that McLoughlin was reared a Cathol c and remained such all his hfe; (a) his parents were both practical Catholics and both Hved until he reached early manhood; (b) his brothers and sisters were all reared practical Catholics, one sister becoming a nun; (c) he conducted a special school for Cath' 1 c children at Fort Vancouver; (d) his extreme cordiality to the priests shows he was not an apostate. Dr. McLoughhn had been for nearly forty years on the frontier, away from the ministrations of a priest, when Father Blanchet came on the scene and brought to him the sacraments of the Church, which were ever afterwards his joy and solace. HON. PETER H. BURNETT CHAPTER XV. THE WHITMAN MASSACRE AND LEGEND. 1. Whitman Founds Mission Among Cayuse. Two days before the consecration of Bishop Demers, a catastrophe occurred in Eastern Ore- gon which brought the Catholic missions in Ore- gon to the brink of ruin. We refer to the sav- age massacre of Dr. Whitman and his wife at the Wailatpu Mission. A word of explanation is necessary to understand the consequences of this event. As early as 1836, Dr. Whitman had taken up his residence among the Cayuse In- dians as representative of the American Board Mission. Here he acted as general manager of this mission and as medical adviser to the savages. For a time his work seemed to progress very satisfactorily and the mission exerted considerable influence among the In- dians. Soon, however, the savages became sus- picious of the encroachments of the whites on their lands, and their suspicions were further aggravated b}' the fatal termination of an epi- demic which spread among them, and which Dr. Whitman attempted to cure. It was the custom among the Indians to kill the medicine man who failed to bring relief to the sick. A story, too, was spread by a half-breed named Joe Lewis, that Dr. Whitman Avas poisoning 142 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY the Indians to get possession of their lands. This, taken in connection with the jealous na- ture of the Indians and the aggression of the whites, fanned the flame into a fierce blaze of indignation against the head of the mission, and they resolved upon the death of Dr. Whitman. Meanwhile the quarrels of the various members of the mission, especially those of Spalding and Whitman and Mr. Gray, had brought the mission to the very verge of destruction by causing the order of the Board in February, 1842, for the discontinuance of three of its four stations and the recalling to the States of Gray and Spalding. Whitman's ride was made for the purpose of securing, and it did secure, the rescission of this destructive order. 2. The Massacre. The decadence of this mission went on very rapidly after 1839 till it was destroyed by the dreadful massacre of November 29-December 8, 1847, in which Dr. and ]\Irs. Whitman and twelve others were slain, and fifty-three others mostly women and children, were taken pris- oners. (Marshall, vol. II, page 38.) The follow- ing da,y Vicar General Brouillet, ignorant of what had occurred, came to the Cayuse camp to baptize some sick children. He arrived there late in the evening and learned of the atrocious WHITMAN MASSACRE AND LEGEND 143 outrage. The next morning he went to the place of the massacre and buried the bodies of the dead in the presence of the murderers. Leaving the scene of the massacre, he hastened away to warn Mr. Spalding, the mission minis- ter, of the danger. He was accompanied, much against his will, by one of the Cayuse Indians. He met the minister three miles from the camp. He pleaded with the Indian to spare the life of Spalding. The Indian replied that he could not take the responsibility of doing so himself, but Avould return to camp to consult the others. When the Indian had gone. Father Brouillet in- formed Spalding of the massacre, and giving him his own supply of food, urged him for his safety to leave the neighborhood at once. Mr. Spalding took to flight, and the Vicar General continued his way and had scarcely gone a few^ miles until he was overtaken by the savages in search of Mr. Spalding. A few days later Bishop Blanchet. of Walla Walla, assem- bled the Indian chiefs and expressed his con- cern at the outrage, and urged them to save the widoAvs and orphans. As soon as tidings of the massacre reached Fort Vancouver, Chief Factor Ogden started without delay to rescue the captives. He reached Fort Walla Walla on December 19, and assembled all of the Indian chiefs on the 23rd, demanding from them all 144 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY of their prisoners and promising to use his in- fluence to prevent war. On December 29, Ogden returned to Fort Walla Walla with the pris- oners. 3. Spalding's Ingratitude. No sooner had Mr. Spalding reached a place of safety, under the protection of ]\lr. Ogden, than he began a systematic vilification of Bishop Blanchet and Father Bl-ouillet. For- getting all sentiments of gratitude, he accused the Bishop and his clergy of instigating the horrible massacre. So outrageous were these accusations that they aroused the deepest and intensest prejudice against the Bishop and the Catholic Church generally, and the excitement became so great that the American volunteers in leaving the Willamette Vallej^ in pursuit of the Indians said that their first shots would be for the Bishop and his priests. For several months feeling ran so high that the Catholic churches and institutions were in danger of being burned down. As a matter of fact the leaders of the massacre were members of their own mission as is confessed in the following letter of Rev. H. H. Spalding to Rev. D. Greene, under date of January 24, 1848. (Marshall, Vol. II, page 204.) WHITMAN MASSACRE AND LEGEND 145 ''Most of these murderers were from the camp of Joseph who, you will recollect, was one of the first two received into our church and who up to this event, has sustained a good Christian character." Another offender was ''Hezekiah the principal Cayuse chief, and one often mentioned in my letters as one of our most diligent scholars, three W'inters in our school at Clear Water and a member of our church." 4. Causes of the Whitman Massacre. The particular causes of the Whitman mas- sacre have been well stated by Marshall, as follows : 1. The folly of Gray in starting with sev- eral Indians to the States in, 1837. The Indians were all killed. 2. The murder of Elijah Hedding, the son of a Walla Walla chief, at Sutter's Fort in California. 3. The acts and words of Tom Hill, the Delaware or Shoshone Indian who had been educated at Dartmouth College, and Avho em- bittered the savages against the whites. 4. The failure of the Indians to get prop- erty from the missionaries in payment for the use of the land occupied by the mission stations. 5. Their anger at the constantly increasing 146 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY throng of wliites going through their coun- try to settle in the Willamette Valley. 6. The belief of the Indians that the mis- sionaries were growing rich from the produce of their lands. 7. The belief of the Indians that Whitman was poisoning them, confirmed to their igno- rant and superstitious minds by the exceed- ingly careless way in which strychnine was used at the various stations of the IMission. 8. The deadly epidemic of measles, com- plicated with dysentery, which was communi- cated to the Indians by the migration of 1847. 9. The terrible severity of the winter of 1846-7, which rendered the Indians much more susceptible than usual to the ravages of the diseases which swept off so large a part of the Cayuses and Walla Wallas in the autumn of 1847. 10. Whitman's unwisdom in continuing to doctor among them as if they were civilized people, in spite of numerous threats by Indians from as early as 1837 that they would kill him if he failed to cure them, and although he knew well that from his first arrival in the country, he had had among them the reputation of a great sorcerer or ''medicine man," and al- though he equally well knew that it was a very common practice among the Indians to kill WHITMAN MASSACRE AND LEGEND 147 their OAvn medicine men when they failed to cure their patients. 5. Anti-Catholic Prejudice. The excitement due to the murder of Dr. Whitman and the subsequent Cayuse War had subsided and the public mind was restored to ciuiet when a new incident arose, in July, 1848, which aroused the prejudice against the Catho- lics to a higher pitch than before. This was the interception at The Dalles by Lieutenant Rodgers of ammunition which w^as being taken to the Rocky Mountain missions conducted by the Jesuit Fathers. Those missions were de- pendent largely upon hunting, and each sum- mer the Fathers in charge imported a stock of powder and balls for the winter's use. Lieu- tenant Rodgers reported that these arms and ammunition were to be distributed among the Indians of the interior for the extermination of the Protestants. The state of the popular mind may be imagined when such a story would receive credence and become the source of a general anti-Catholic movement. In De- cember, 1848, a petition was introduced into the Territorial Legislature for the expulsion of the Catholic clergy from Oregon. More sober counsel prevailed, however, and the petition was lost. Rut the work of the Catholic mis- 148 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY siouaries in Eastern Oregon Avas frustrated for two decades, and even in the Willamette Val- ley it was retarded. 6. The Whitman Myth. The influence of the Whitman story was, however, not to rest here. Mr. Spalding, in order to discredit the work of the Catholic missionaries, invented an heroic narrative of Whitman's service to Oregon, in which the Catholic clergy were held up to public view as the enemies of American domination. While this narrative belongs chronologically to a period of history nearly twenty years subse- quent to the Whitman massacre, it will be best for us to give an account of the matter in this place. 7. Earliest Version. The earliest published version of the Whit- man story is the brief and vague one written by S. A. Clarke, which appeared in the Sac- rameiito Union of November 16, 1864. The story is to be found in two very variant forms in two letters to the American Board Avritten by Rev. George H. Atkinson, November 20, 1858, and September 7, 1859. These are doubt- less the earliest written forms of the legend. The most generally accepted version of the WHITMAN MASSACRE AND LEGEND 149 story is that published by Rev. H. H. Spald- ing in the Pacific, the California organ of the Congregationalists, October 19th and November 9th, 1865. The story of how Whit- man saved Oregon to the United States, ac- cording to the narrative of Spalding and Gray is as follows : 8. The Dinner at Fort Walla Walla. ''In September, 1842, Dr. Whitman was called to visit a patient at Fort Walla AValla. While there he took dinner with the traders and clerks of the Hudson's Bay Company, who were on their way to New Caledonia. While they were at dinner, word arrived that an emigration from Red River had passed the Rocky Mountains and was near Fort Colvile. An exclamation of joy burst from the whole table, at first unaccountable to Dr. Whitman, till a young priest, not thinking there Avas an American at the table, sprang to his feet and swinging his hands in the air exclaimed, ''Hur- rah for Columbia! (Oregon), America is too late! We have the countr}^" In an instant. Dr. Whitman, as by instinct, saw through the whole plan. He immediately arose from the table, asked to be excused, sprang upon his horse, rode to his mission, and without stop- ping to dismount, told his co-workers: "I am 11 150 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY going to cross the Rocky Mountains and reach Washington this winter and bring an emigra- tion over the mountains next spring, or this country is lost." 9. How Oregon was Saved. ''Leaving his missionary associates, he entered upon his famous ride, and reached Washington the last of March, 1843. There he sought an interview with Secretar}^ Webster, and laid before him the great importance of Oregon to the United States; but he found Webster on the point of trading off Oregon to Great Brit- ain for a cod-fishery on the Banks of New- foundland. Whitman then had an interview with President Tyler, who promised that Ore- gon should not be traded off provided Dr. Whitman should establish a wagon route through the mountains to the Columbia River. Whitman thereupon organized a caravan of nearly 200 wagons with a great emigration, leaving Missouri on the last of April and emerging on the plains of the Columbia on the 4th of September, 1843. Thus was Oregon saved to the Union and the nefarious plans of the Catholic missionaries frustrated by Whitman's heroism." WHITMAN MASSACRE AND LEGEND 151 10. False in Every Important Detail. Such is the thrilling story of Whitman's services, which was published to the world by Spalding for the first time in 1865, seventeen years after the death of Marcus Whitman. Of this story we have only to remark that it is false in every important particular, as the following points will indicate : 1. There was no emigration from the Red River reaching Oregon in 1842. 2. There was no young priest in Eastern Oregon in September, 1842. 3. Whitman's journey was undertaken, not to save Oregon, but to save his own mis- sion from being closed down by the order which had come from the Board in the East; and this journey was planned and authorized by his associates in missionary work, as is shown by the authoritative documents of the mission. 4. The story concerning Webster is too puerile to deserve notice. Every administra- tion from 1814 down to 1846 had insisted on nothing south of forty-nine degrees as ''our ultimatum" for the northern boundary of Ore- gon. Webster positively declared in January and February, 1843, "that he had never made nor entertained nor meditated any proposition to accept of the Columbia River, or any other 152 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY line south of the forty-ninth degree, as a ne- gotiable boundary line for the United States." (Marshall, Vol. II, page 192.) 5. Whitman had nothing to do with or- ganizing the emigration of 1843, but fell in with it after it was organized, and accom- panied it to Oregon. (See note at end of chap- ter.) The Whitman story, however, in spite of its purely mythical character, found its way into encyclopaedias and general histories and chron- icles of Oregon, and especially through Bar- row's History of Oregon, which was published in 1884, the story received universal dissemina- tion. 11. Non-Catholic Historians Demolish Legend. The final disposal of the myth must be credited to two non-Catholic historians, Prof. Edward Gaylord Bourne, of Yale, and Mr. W. I. Marshall, of Chicago. The former, in his ''Essa,ys in Historical Criticism," has dissected the Whitman legend ; the latter, in his two volumes on the ''Acquisition of Ore- gon, and the Long Suppressed Evidence Con- cerning IMarcus Whitman," has finally demol- ished the stor}^ and exposed the animus of those who built it up. "It is evident," says Marshall, ''to any one who will study the origin and development WHITMAN MASSACRE AND LEGEND 153 of the Whitman legend that it would never have been heard of, had the National Gov- ernment paid the thirty or forty thousand dol- lars claimed by Spalding and Eells for the destruction of the mission, and allowed their claims for a mile square of land around each mission station. . . . This makes the origin of the legend vastly more sordid than I had pre- viously supposed. ''In no diary or letter to Whitman is there a single sentence prior to the time when Whit- man — after finding the whole country aflame on the Oregon question — had reached St. Louis on his return to Oregon in May, 1843, which expresses the least interest in or concern about the political destiny of all, or of any part, of the old Oregon Territory." (Vol. II, page 51.) NOTES TO CHAPTER XV. (By Mr. Clinton A. Snowden.) (a) "There is absolutely no evidence that Whitman met either President Tyler or Secre- tary Webster while in Washington or else- where." (b) ''The President and his cabinet had re- ceived a special report from Commodore Wilkes more than eight months before Whitman reach- ed Washington, giving vastly more informa- 154 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY tion in regard to the value of Oregon than Whitman possessed." (c) "Professor McMaster in his 'History of the People of the United States, ' shows that the people of the Western States particularh^, were fully aware of the value of the Oregon Country, and that public meetings had been held in various places, and a National Convention had been called to meet at Cincinnati to urge Con- gress to hasten settlement of the boundary ques- tion, before Whitman reached any frontier set- tlement on his way east." CHAPTER XVI. A DECADE OF STRUGGLE (1848-1858). 1. First Provincial Council is Held. Notwithstanding the unfortunate events which broke up the Catholic missions among the Indians in Eastern Oregon, Archbishop Blanchet opened the first Provincial Council of Oregon in the archiepiscopal residence at St. Paul on February 28, 1848. Indeed the assem- bling of the bishops of the province was due to the Whitman massacre which caused the clos- ing of the mission at Walla Walla and threw the Bishop temporarily upon the charity and hospitality of the Archbishop. Bishop Demers, who had been consecrated on the 30th of the preceding November, was still at St. Paul. It was an unexpected opportunity for them to deliberate on the needs of their various dioceses before again separating. The three sessions of the council were held with all solemnity. Dis- ciplinary regulations were enacted for the province and decrees formulated which after- wards received the approbation of the Holy See. 2. Bishop Demers Reaches Vancouver Island. Immediately after the council had dissolved, Bishop Demers set out for Europe by way of 156 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY Canada to secure co-workers for the diocese of Vancouver Island, having at that time not even one priest for the vast territory placed under his care. It was not until August 20, 1852, that he returned to take possession of his See. In a letter dated Victoria, October 26, 1852, he tells of his journey and the difficulties at- tending it. The missionaries whom he had se- cured in Europe came by sea in two sailing vessels which carried French immigrants to California. The Bishop himself came b3^ way of Panama to San Francisco, where he found that two of his priests had arrived safely, but the second vessel with two other priests, a phj^sician and two other lay attendants for the mission, had not arrived being detained by mutiny on board at Rio Janeiro. The bishop proceeded to Vancouver Island with his two missionaries and found two others there (a priest and a sub-deacon) who had preceded him by four months. Arrived at his destination he was lodged in a little house which had been built by the Hudson's Bay Company for the use of Father Lamfrit, 0. M. I., who had been sent to Victoria early in IMarch, 1849. The bishop tells us that on Sunday, September 5th, after vespers he took solemn possession of his diocese ''plaudente populo cler'oque!" On the 29th, another ceremonv full of noveltv and in- A DECADE OF STRUGGLE (1848-1858) 157 terest to his people (the savages) took place in the blessing of one of the bells which the bishop had brought from London. It weighed fifty pounds. The following day the bell was suspended from a tower formed of the trunks of three trees. That evening (September 30th) ''the Bishop of Vancouver had the consolation of ringing the first Angelus that had ever been heard in the hills or valleys of Vancouver Island. Fourteen years had flown since I rang for the first time the Angelus at St. Francis Xavier on the Oowlitz." Years of toil and self-sacrifice among the Indians and the pio- neer whites who formed his flock were again opening before the bishop who had already borne the heats and burdens of the day as an humble missionary in Oregon. In 1858 the educational and missionary work of the diocese was strengthened by the arrival of the Sisters of St. Anne and the Oblate Fathers. 3. Diocese of Nesqually Created. Meanwhile the Bishop of Walla Walla sought to return to his mission at Umatilla, having remained at Oregon City until after Easter Sunday, 1848. When he reached The Dalles he was forbidden by the Superintendent of In- dian Affairs to go back among the Indians owing to the disturbed condition of the rela- 158 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY tions between the Indians and the whites. The bishop established St. Peter's Mission at The Dalles where he remained until the end of September, 1850. In response to a petition of the Provincial Council of 1848, there arrived from Rome briefs bearing the date of May 31, 1850, creating the district of Nesqually into a diocese and transferring the Bishop of Walla Walla to that See, suppressing the diocese of Walla Walla, placing its administration with that of the districts of Colvile and Fort Hall in the hands of the Archbishop of Oregon Cit.y. In consequence of this order Bishop Blanchet, now Bishop of Nesqually, quitted The Dalles and on October 27, 1850, took up his residence at Fort Vancouver.^ The following year Bishop Blanchet went to Mexico to collect for the mis- sions and churches of his diocese and returned with a successful collection of mone}^ sacred vessels, pictures and sacerdotal vestments. He had previously appealed for assistance to the Archbishop of Quebec and we find in the pastoral letters of Archbishop Signay a recom- 'On June 29, 1853. at the recommendation of the First Plenary Council of Baltimore (1852) which Archbishop Blanchet and the Bishop of Nesqually attended, the Columbia River and parallel 46 became the line of di- vision between the dioceses of Oregon City and Nesqually from the Pacific Ocean to the Rocky Mountains. Fort Nesqually was never more than nominally the seat of the diocese. The Bishop resided at Fort Vancouver until Bishop O'Dea moved to Seattle. Since 1909 the title of the diocese has been Seattle. A DECADE OF STRUGGLE (1848-1858) 159 mendation of the work of Bishop Blanchet and the appointment of a collection to be taken up throughout the diocese for his benefit. An- other source of aid to the necessitous diocese was the fund supplied by the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. 4. Conditions Serious at Oregon City. But hard as were conditions in the diocese of Vancouver Island or Nesqually, they did not wear the serious aspect that they assumed in the archdiocese of Oregon City. The build- ing operations at St. Paul and Oregon City, which w^e chronicled in an earlier chapter, in- volved the archdiocese in very heavy debt. Had the community continued to grow normal- ly, the required amount of money might pos- sibly have been forthcoming, though it must be conceded that the new buildings, the church at St. Paul and the church and convent at Ore- gon City, were projected on a scale scarcely warranted by the most hopeful view of the sit- uation. But whatever might have been the outcome under normal circumstances, the re- sult Avas disastrous under the untoward con- ditions that arose. The discovery of gold in California was followed by an exodus of Cath- olic families from French Prairie, greatly crippling the resources of the chief parish in 160 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY the archdiocese. The misfortune which over- took Oregon City when McLoughlin's claim was unjustly taken from him and appro- priated for a universit}' has already been men- tioned (Chap. XII). Business was soon at a standstill, and after 1850, the population de- clined. The new school was deserted (see Chap. XIII, par. 7) and the congregation grad- ually dwindled away. Another misfortune overtook the Archbishop, when in 1849 a ves- sel, the Vancouver, carrying the annual provision of merchandise for Fort Vancouver, was shipwrecked at the mouth of the Colum- bia. The entire cargo was lost, including sev- eral thousand dollars' worth of effects destined for the missions of the archdiocese. 5. State of the Diocese in 1852. An interesting view of the state of the dio- cese in 1852 is to be had from the pen of Saint- Amant, an envoy of the French Government who visited Oregon in that year. Saint-Amant spent some days with Archbishop Blanchet at Oregon City and reports that ''the archiepis- copal palace was worthy of John the Baptist." Speaking of conditions at St. Paul he writes: ''The priest is everything to the families on French Prairie — friend, confidant, law-giver, counsellor, arbiter, judge. The financial con- A DECADE OF STRUGGLE (1848-1858) 161 dition is very unsatisfactory. The churches are mortgaged to heretics and unless the Catho- lics make a strenuous effort to save them, they will change altars and lose the Real Pres- ence"^ (page 179). In the former residence of the Archbishop at St. Paul, Saint-Amant was astonished to find five hundred volumes con- taining the writings of the Fathers of the Church (Migne's Patrology, now at the Arch- bishop's residence, Portland) in Latin and Greek. He observed that these were scarcely the equipment to be expected in the home of a missionary among the savages. The fact that Father Blanchet had carried this extensive and precious library of Patristic lore across the mountains and plains is an illustration of his great love of learning which persisted during the most trying years of his missionary life. 6. Archbishop Tours South America for Aid. In order to meet the debts of the archdiocese, Archbishop Blanchet decided to tour South America for financial assistance. He left Ore- gon City in the fall of 1855 with a letter of authorization from the Prefect of the Congre- ISaint-Amant met McLoughlin at Oregon City. He speaks of him in the the following terms: "McLoughlin. an old man now, but very straight and of superb bear- ing. Napoleon was always his idol. He gives an exam- ple of extreme Catholic devotion and receives Communion on every occasion." 162 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY gation of Propaganda. He traversed several of the South American States, spending some time in Peru and Bolivia. He was especially successful in Chili, where he had published in 1856 in Spanish a pamphlet giving a sketch of the ecclesiastical Province of Oregon. This sketch gives an account of the his- tory of Oregon exploration and missionary ac- tivity and contains an appeal of the Archbishop for aid in which he presents a vivid picture of the multiplying misfortunes which have be- fallen the diocese. The Archbishop returned in December, 1857, after two years' absence, with a collection that enabled him to meet the debts of the diocese. 7. A Discouraging Outlook. The financial difficulties of the diocese were not the only ones. The schools had all been closed ; all the religious, both men and women, had left the diocese ; the clergy diminished from 19 to 7 ; missions that were once flourish- ing were now unattended; work among the Indians was paralyzed; bigotry and prejudice were spreading apace, and the seat of the dio- cese, Oregon City, declining from day to day. The state of the diocese in 1855- '56 is summed up in the following report : Oregon City, Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Most Rev. F. N. A DECADE OF STRUGGLE (1848-1858) 163 Blanchet (absent) and Rev. Patrick Mackin ; St. Paul, Marion County, Rev. Myles O'Reilly; St. Louis, Very Rev. B. Delorme, V. G., and Rev. A. Le Bas ; Portland, Rev. Jas. Croke, who goes each summer to Southern Oregon, that is, Jacksonville, Scottsburg, Winchester, Eugene City and other places ; The Dalles, Rev. T. Mes- plie. Total number of churches, six; clergy, seven. The years of 1855- '56 may be taken as the nadir of the Catholic missions in Oregon. OREGON COUNTRY IN PIONEER DAYS 1792-1846 ^\os CHAPTER XVII. PORTLAND BECOMES A CATHOLIC CENTER. 1. Father Croke, First Pastor of Portland. With the decline of Oregon City, the town of Portland grew rapidly in importance. The first movement toward the erection of a Cath- olic church in Portland was begun in the fall of 1851, when Rev. James Croke was author- ized by the Archbishop to solicit funds for that purpose. About $600 was secured through sub- scriptions of residents of Portland and half a block of ground was purchased from Capt. J. H. Couch in the vicinity of Fifth and Couch Streets. There the building was commenced. While the church was being erected the Catho- lics of Portland assisted at Mass in a private residence until the completion of the little sac- risty at the end of the church, where Mass was celebrated for the first time at midnight, Christ- mas eve, 1851. Two months later the work was sufficiently advanced to have the building dedicated. Rough benches answered the pur- pose of pews and the whole interior of the edifice was unfinished when on the 22nd of February, 1852, the ceremony of dedication was performed by the Archbishop, assisted by Very Rev. J. B. Brouillet, Vicar General of Nesqually, and the Pastor, Father Croke. The church re- 12 166 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY mained on its original site until 1854, when the congregation began to realize that the building was too far remote from the people. The road to it was a mere trail through the woods, blocked up by fallen trees, over which those going to church had to make their way. A meeting was called and four lots secured from Benjamin Stark at Third and Stark Streets and the building removed to that location. 2. The Church Moved to New Location. The following letter from Father Croke gives an account of the moving of the church : '' Portland, March 7th, '54. "My Lord Archbishop : "I avail myself of the kindness of the Right Reverend Bishop of Nesqually to inform your Lordship by a short letter of how we have pro- gressed with the moving of our church. ''We completed the work, thank God, with- out the slightest accident and our church now stands on its new site as perfect and as strong as if it were built there. The $500, the amount paid for moving it, has been paid; but we still owe the contractor for the enlargement of the sacristy, which cost about $80. This we ex- pect to pay in a few days. Captains Couch and Flanders have given of their own free will two lots out of the four on w^hich the church for- merly stood, and have offered us the remaining two for two hundred dollars. They have thus compromised the matter, and are prepared to PORTLAND BECOMES A CATHOLIC CENTER 167 make out a full deed for those two lots as soon as we give np the deed which is still in your Lordship's possession — and of which you fur- nished me a copy. This deed they desired me to write for, as they cannot sell the other two lots until they get this deed. Hence, My Lord, it would be well that you would send it by his Lordship of Nesqually on his return from Wil- lamette. If at Oregon City you can tell him where to find it. ''On last Sunday we had Vespers at 6 o'clock in the afternoon followed by the Benediction of the Most Holy Sacrament and Sermon. The church was nearly full. ''Recommending myself to your Lordship's prayers and holy sacrifices, I have the honor to remain "Your Lordship's very humble and obedient servant, "JAMES CROKE." When in 1862 the Archbishop removed his residence from Oregon City to Portland this humble church became his pro-Cathedral. 3. Catholic Census in 1855. Another letter of Father Croke gives us in- teresting information about the extent of his missionar}^ operations : "Portland, May 17th, 1855. "My Lord Archbishop : "I have the honor to submit to your Lordship a full and complete census not only of the Catholics of Portland and vicinity, but also of 168 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY all the Missions and stations visited by me in the years 1853-4. I hope you will find it satis- factory. I intended appending to the census of the south a description of the various towns, their relative distances and a general 'i'tine- raire' for the use of a traveling priest, but I have got no time just now but shall take the earliest opportunity of doing so and of also making a kind of ecclesiastical map of the country, showing the different points where Catholics are settled, the most convenient sites for missions, etc. ''You will find at the end of the census a general resume showing at one glance the Cath- olic population adult and minor of each town in Oregon, commencing at Jacksonville, which I have taken as the center. Starting from Jack- sonville I go south to the southern extremity of your Lordship's jurisdiction, then traveling up the seashore to the Umpqua Valley, commenc- ing again at Canyonville, the extreme southern point of the Umpqua, I travel north to the Wil- lamette, taking in all the various stations to the Calapooia Mountains, thence into the Wil- lamette Valley, traveling north until I join the missionary posts where there are resident cler- gymen. As I lost some of my notes, and as it is impossible for a priest in a flying mission to find out all the Catholics you cannot suppose that I have given the names of all. I have only given the names of those I have actually seen with one or two exceptions. You will find by the report that the entire number of Catholics in the Rogue River, Umpqua and Willamette Valleys amounts to : PORTLAND BECOMES A CATHOLIC CENTER 169 Adults 239 Minors under 12 64 Total 303 Of these vou have in the Rogue River : Adults ^ 100 Minors 5 — 105 Umpqua Valley : Adults 65 Minors 20— 85 AVillamette Valley : Adults 74 Minors 39—113 303 ''I have the honor to remain Your Lordship's humble and obedient servant, ''JAS. CROKE, Mis." 4. The Archbishop Secures the Sisters of the Holy Names. When Archbishop Blanchet returned from South America in 1857, he learned that his brother, the Bishop of Nesqually, had in- duced the Sisters of Charitj- of Providence in ^Montreal to accept a foundation at Vancouver. Further, Bishop Demers had applied to the Sisters of St. Anne to establish a Convent at Victoria. The Archbishop determined to seek aid in securing religious for his diocese from Bishop Bourget, at whose hands he 170 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY had received episcopal consecration. He at once secured a block at what is now Fifth and Market Streets, Portland, on w^hich stood an untenanted frame building. With this location and accommodation to offer he set out for Montreal to find Sisters to open a school. Acting under the advice of their founder, Bishop Bourget, the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary responded to the call of the Archbishop. Twelve devoted Sisters, with Mother Alphonse as Superior, left Montreal in September and after a long and at times perilous sea voyage, reached Portland on the 21st of October, 1859. These Sisters opened St. Mary's Academy in humble quarters on the site of the present location of the Academy and College and again lighted the torch of Chris- tian education in the archdiocese. 5. St. Mary's Academy Opened. The author of ''Gleanings of Fifty Years" writes of the arrival of the Sisters: ''Even St. Francis of Assisi would have had no reason to complain of the homage paid to 'Lady Pov- erty' in the first humble domicile of the Sisters of the Holy Names in Portland. The luxury of bedsteads and mattresses was reserved for more prosperous days; the carpet-bags of the travelers were their pillows; the lately pur- PORTLAND BECOMES A CATHOLIC CENTER 171 chased blankets by some unexpected process of multiplication, sufficed for the covering of the twelve Sisters. Was theirs a peaceful slumber on their bed of boards, or was it haunted by tearful visions of old-home comforts? The answer is told by the joyful note of courage ringing through the convent annals." (Page 73.) The new school was opened November 6, 1859, with six pupils. Ten days later a little orphan girl was received as the first boarder. For some years a large percentage of the smaller girl boarders were orphans. Toward the end of November a class was opened for boys. 6. Schools Reopened at Oregon City and St. Paul. On April 23, 1860, the Sisters established a school at Oregon City, where the Archbishop still resided. The blight that rested on Ore- gon City was not removed until the State re- turned McLoughlin's Land Claim to his heirs in October, 1862. Two months before the Leg- islative Assembly took this action. Archbishop Blanchet removed to Portland and the convent school was not re-opened in the fall of that year. On February 1, 1861, the Sisters opened a school at St. Paul in the building vacated by the Sisters of Notre Dame. A new class of settlers had taken up farms around St. Paul after the decimation of the population by the 172 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY rush to the gold mines, and French Prairie again wore an air of prosperity. Here Father Fabian Malo was pastor to a devoted flock. The very winter following the re-establishment of the school at St. Paul there came a terrific flood that swept away the village of Champoeg, causing great loss of life. The flood was fol- lowed by intense cold that blocked the Willam- ette River with ice. Lack of fuel and provis- ions produced great sufi^ering that necessitated bringing two of the exhausted Sisters and all the remaining pupils from St. Paul to St. Mary's Academy in Portland. 7. Other Early Schools. In August, 1861, under the direction of Father Patrick Mackin, Pastor of Portland, the Sisters opened a school for boys beside the church on Third and Stark Streets, and on the reconstruction of the Academy in 1862 a home was provided for orphan boys. The Sisters of the Holy Names extended their school work to Salem in 1863. Here the few Catholic fam- ilies in what was then a strong Methodist com- munity were under the spiritual care of Rev. Leopold Dielman. An unusued Masonic hall was purchased and converted into a convent. In the autumn of 1864 at the invitation of Rev. L. Vermeesch, the Sisters established a school PORTLAND BECOMES A CATHOLIC CENTER 173 at The Dalles, and the following year became pioneers of Catholic education in Southern Ore- gon by opening a school at Jacksonville at the request of the pastor, Rev. F. X. Blanchet. It was here that Father Croke had built a church in 1858. It was here too that the Sisters had soon an opportunity of devoting themselves to works of charity as well as of education. In 1869 an epidemic of smallpox broke out and for two months the Sisters administered to the suf- fering and dying regardless of their own health. The heroism endeared them to every class of the little community. 8. The Pioneer Sisters of Providence. Bishop Blanchet of Nesqually applied to Bishop Bourget of Montreal in 1856 for Sisters of Providence. On the 3rd of November of that year five Sisters of Providence left Mon- treal by direction of Bishop Bourget for the Western Mission. They sailed on the steam- ship Illinois for Panama. Crossing the Isthmus they embarked for San Francisco and from there the steamship Oregon brought them to Vancouver, Washington Territory, December 8, 1856. The first Superior was Mother Joseph, a heroic woman whose name will always be asso- ciated with deeds of mercy and charity in the pioneer history of the Pacific Northwest. For 174 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY two months the new arrivals suffered many privations before their house was fitted up for use. In February, 1857, they opened a little school with seven pupils, which rapidly grew in numbers. The same year two orphans were received by them. The following year, April 9, 1858, St. Joseph's Hospital was opened in Vancouver. The Sisters of Providence opened a school at Walla Walla at the invitation of the pastor. Father Brouillet, February 18, 1864. On the 25th of November, the previous year, they established a school at Steilacoom. This school was closed in 1875 when the population mi- grated to the new town of Tacoma. St. Vin- cent's Hospital, Portland, was opened May 10, 1875; Providence Hospital, Seattle, at the invi- tation of pioneer Father Prefontaine, ]\Iay 2, 1877; the Hospital at Walla Walla, February 27, 1880; Sacred Heart Hospital, Spokane, April 30, 1886; St. Mary's Hospital, New Westmin- ster, B. C, July 6, 1886. CHAPTER XVIII. A MISSIONARY TOUR IN 1853. (Father Croke's Letters.) 1. Father Croke Visits Salem and Albany. Jesse Applegate's, Umpqua Valley, Aug. 9th, 1853. "My Lord: "I arrived here this evening after a ride of 32 miles today. I stopped with Mr. Dubois at Salem, and was very hospitably received by him. I saw no house that would answer as a church for the moment, but there is a large room over the store of Wm. Griswold, which could be rented cheap whenever required, $5.00 for a Sunday. I met no Catholic at Salem but Mr. Dubois. 0''Reilly is at Rogue River and Mr. Sheely, the lawyer, was at Scottsburgh. I passed through Santiam City and Syracuse and got to Albany the day I left Salem (Thurs- day). Albany is a considerable town about 24 miles south of Salem. It is built on a large plain eight miles from Marysville, and is sup- ported by a very extensive country. Judging from the appearance of the town that it is likely to progress rapidly and become a post of some importance, I called upon the pro- prietors, Messrs. Monteith, two brothers, to endeavor to get some lots. They appear to be very liberally disposed, but refused to give a deed for lots until we w^ere going to build. They offered two lots in the very center of the 176 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY town, but only on condition that we would commence to erect a church at furthest next Spring. Of course, I could not accept them on those conditions, I found old O'Reilly on his claim fourteen miles south of Marysville. As my horse was tired, and as it was approaching Sunday, I thought it better to remain with him in order to have an opportunity of saying Mass on Sunday. His house is a most miserable hovel and so small that I'd scarcely find a cor- ner to fix me up an altar. I succeeded, how- ever, in arranging a few boards against the wall, and having spread upon them my altar- cloths and ornaments celebrated the first Mass that w^as ever said in this part of the country. All the neighborhood are very bigoted against the Catholics, and hold O'Reilly in abhorrence. He received the Sacraments of Confession and Communion, and appears to me to be a very good old man. His wife and children are Protestants, but very well disposed towards the Catholic religion. His wife, in fact, believes in it, and is reading Catholic books. I prom- ised to spend some days there when returning in order to instruct her, and receive her into the Church if properly disposed. On yesterday (Monday) I left O'Reilly's and traveled thirty miles, and here I am today. My Lord, at Applegate's. He is not at home, but his wife has received me very kindly, and has invited me to remain some days, which I prom- ised to do when coming back from Jacksonville. Tomorrow I leave here for Winchester, distant A MISSIONARY TOUR IN 1853 177 from here about 25 miles. It is the last place of any note that I will meet until I arrive at the end of my journey. 2. Difficulties of Missionary Life. "Kouse Bay, Lower Umpqua, ''Aug. 26, 1853. "Monseigneur : ''Since last I have had the honor of writing to Your Lordship, many circumstances have occurred to retard my progress. I am already heartily tired of my missionary tour, and anxiously look forward to the day when I shall be able to return to civilized life and to the so- ciety of virtuous friends. Through all this country, with very few exceptions, the state of morality is at its lowest ebb, the few Catholics even that I meet are so only in name, and I as- sure Your Lordship that the prospects for a missionary are discouraging and gloomy in the extreme; and to add to his mortifications the priest is not only obliged to breathe an atmos- phere of corruption, but he is deprived of the happiness of celebrating the divine sacrifice of the Mass, frequently even on Sundays. The only consolation that he has is to pray that God will have mercy on his people, and to unite his intention with those who have the happiness of assisting at the holy offices of the Church. It is only when deprived of that sacred privilege that we can properly appre- ciate the consolation of our holy religion and the comforts of offering up the divine sacrifice 178 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY of the Mass. It is the will of God, however, that such should be the case for a short time, and I humbly resign myself to His holy will and to the wishes of my superior. I shall now give Your Lordship a brief sketch of the prin- cipal places I have visited since my last letter, and how I actually find myself. 3. On the Banks of the South Umpqua. *^ After leaving ^Ir. Jesse Applegate's, where I was most kindly and hospitably received by Mrs. Applegate in the absence of her husband, I proceeded on my journey south, and arrived that evening at Captain Kilburn's, who lives wdthin one mile of Winchester and some 27 miles from Applegate's. The Captain and his family received me most kindly and pressed me very urgently to remain some days with them. I passed the night with them after a wearisome and hungry day, and started next morning for what is called ''The Canyon." Winchester, one mile from Captain Kilburn's, is a very small town, built on the left bank of the North Umpqua River. It consists of a few houses, one of which is a store belonging to General Lane's son-in-law. Though it is the great thor- oughfare from the mines to Scottsburg, it is too far from the head of navigation to become a place of any considerable commercial import- ance. It may, however, in the course of time become a large inland town, as it is surrounded by a good farming country. I visited Rev. Mr. AVilbur, INIethodist preacher, who resides here, and with whom I was acquainted in Portland, A MISSIONARY TOUR IN 1853 179 He is the presiding elder of Southern Oregon, and generally known through the country. He received me very politely, gave me some in- formation regarding the morality of the mining regions, and offered me the hospitality of his house on my return. From him I received the first intimation of the difficulties between the whites and the Rogue River Indians and the dangers of the journey to the mines. I re- garded it, however, rather lightly, and resolved to push on as far as I could. That night, not finding a house to stop at, I staked my horse on the banks of the South Umpqua River and slept soundly under the shade of a fine oak tree, with my saddle bags as my pillow, and a large fire to keep me warm. 4. Settlers Terrorized by the Indians. ''When I arrived at The Canyon, which is a narrow pass twelve miles long, through the Umpqua Mountains which separate the Rogue River Valley from the Umpqua, I found it im- possible for me to proceed any farther. The Indians are under arms in great numbers and have attacked the whites, even in the tow^n of Jacksonville. The communication between here and the mines is entirely cut off, and some pack- ers w^ho have gone through the canj^on have been obliged to return. All the settlers who live in the Rogue River Country have left their claims and gone to Jacksonville. Some 13 or 14 -whites have been killed and several houses along the road have been burned down by the Indians. Some packers have represented the 180 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY number of the latter as being very great, but the reports are so conflicting that it is difficult to form a correct judgment as to their number or the real state of affairs. It is certain, how- ever, that several tribes of Indians, viz : the Shastas, Klamath Lakes, the Grave Creeks, the Cow Creeks, the Coquilles, and some say the South Umpquas have united, and that their number cannot be less than 600 warriors. They are all well armed — they have taken from the whites 100 head of cattle, are encamped to- gether at Table Rock, near Jacksonville and determined to fight to the last. They have al- ready had two skirmishes with the whites and have been victorious each time. Mr. Hardy, the lawyer and former representative, is amongst the killed. General Lane passed through The Canyon about the 20th inst. with some men to endeavor to put a stop to hostili- ties. I remained some time at The Canyon waiting for company to pass on, but finding none, and it being madness to risk the journey alone, particularly as the houses along the road have been all abandoned, I returned to Winchester where I would be under less ex- pense and could find something to eat for my horse. When I got near Winchester I found my horse perfectly disabled. His laziness in- creased one hundred fold and his back was all swelled so that I could not put his saddle on. I traded him off with a farmer for a nice In- dian mare w^hich, though small, is an excel- lent traveler. A MISSIONARY TOUR IN 1853 181 5. A Trip to Coos Bay. I stopped two days near Winchester with an Irishman whom I knew at Oregon City, but finding the news from the mines every da}^ less encouraging, I resolved, in order to spare time, to alter my plan of traveling and to go on to Seottsburg and visit that part of the country and then on my return to go to Jacksonville if I found it possible. I accordingly left for Seottsburg on the 17th of August and arrived there after two days' journey. Finding, on my arrival there, the steamer, Washington, ready to make a trip to Coos Bay I applied to Mr. Allan of the firm of AUan-McFurley & Co. with whom she belonged and procured a passage on her. We arrived the first day at Umpqua City at the mouth of the Umpqua River, and on Sat- urday the 20th we endeavored to cross the Umpqua bar. We found the breakers too high and the weather too stormy to get out to sea — but on the following morning, Sunda.y, we crossed the bar with great difficulty antl with much risk, and after a stormy passage we anchored safeh' in Coos Bay. We Avere scarce- ly out at sea when it blew a heavy gale from the northwest. The little steamer, however, contrary to the expectations of all on board who gave themselves up as lost, weathered the storm gallantly and, thanks to God, we got in safely over the bar at the Coos Bay. A com- pany of 20 persons, amongst Avhom is Dr. Shiels, have commenced to build a town six miles from the mouth of the bay, which prom- ises before long to become the largest seaport 13 182 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY town in Oregon. It is causing great excite- ment through Southern Oregon, and this it was that induced me to risk a passage on the AVash- ington in order to visit it and judge for my- self. The entrance to the bay is safe — the bar is one mile wide and I have been told that at all stages of the tide a ship of any tonnage will find plenty of water to get over it. The bay itself is a beautiful sheet of water, sheltered from all sides except the northwest. It is some thirty-five miles long and varies from one to three miles wide. At its top the Koose or Goose River joins it, which is navigable for some twenty-five miles above its mouth for ships of goodly size and has some very valuable water power. The banks of this river, as well as the bay, are surrounded by ver}^ extensive farming country covered Avith abundance of fine white cedar timber well calculated for lumber. They have found here very extensive coal banks — I have visited them myself — seen them worked — handled and tested the coal, and found it excel- lent, as far as I am a judge. We burned it on board the Washington instead of wood. This alone is calculated to make Coos Bay a place of great importance. 6. Donation for a Church at Empire City. ''The name of the new toAvn is 'Empire City.' It is already divided into lots, some of which have been purchased. There are at least fifty persons camped here in the open air. They re- ceived me most kindly, boarded me for nearly a week ''gratis" and on today have given me a A MISSIONARY TOUR IN 1853 183 donation of four lots for a church with a prom- ise of four more as soon as the entire company can hold a meeting. The site of the church is on Third street, and commands a beautiful view of the bay. On tomorrow I start for Umpqua City. I must walk along the beach as the Washington has returned. There is a great number of Indians here. They speak no Chinook. From Umpqua City I go to Scotts- burg, where I hope to get some lots. All the mining business up to this has been principally done here, and when I passed by before there were two vessels in the river from San Fran- cisco. It's a place that's fast progressing, but the townsite is most miserable, and building ground very scarce. From Scottsburg I leave again for The Canyon, and if I find it possible to go to Jacksonville I shall try to get there. If not I shall return home. The last account from the Indians is that they have repulsed the whites again. Hostilities will probably continue throughout the Fall. I should wish to have some instructions from Your Lordship. A letter to Winchester written immediately may find me. I found a good deal of Catho- lics, principally French, near Winchester, but more about them in my next. ''Jacksonville, Sept. 20th, 1853. ''My Lord Archbishop: "I have now visited all the towns in Southern Oregon, and, I think, have acquired a pretty correct idea of the religious prospects of the country. Though not so bright and cheering 184 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY as a missionary may desire, still they are nol altogether hopeless, and I am sure, that in the course of time with patience and persevering exertion aided by a reasonable amount oi: money, some good may be effected in this part of the country. A permanent missionary post with at least two priests should be established in some central position from which all the countries could be conveniently and regularly visited. A flying mission is useless, or at least the good resulting from it is but partial and by no means abiding. The Catholics here are so few and in general so lukewarm that it requires some time for a priest to hunt them out, and even then it is not in one day that he can inspire them with the proper disp')sitions. A priest, in order to do good amongst them, must become personally acquainted with them, must follow their motions from place to place, particularly here at the mines where the popu- lation is so uncertain and so floating. He must have an accurate idea of the country, must visit his post regularly, and, above all, must be supplied with the funds necessary to defray his expenses — and then, with the grace of God, some good may be reasonably expected to re- sult from his missionary labors. ''The Indian difficulties are at last ended — at least for the moment, though traveling in this valley is far from being yet safe. Thanks to Almighty Providence, I have got here safe and unharmed amidst dangers and difficulties. I have had protection where I least expected it and am considerablv indebted to the kindness A MISSIONARY TOUR IN 1853 185 of Mr. Jesse Applegate and Major B. Alford, formerly commander at The Dalles, for the privilege of traveling in their company free of all expenses. The Major has divided with me his tent and his soldier's fare, and has in- vited me to join his part}^ when going home. I am sorry, however, that I cannot avail my- self of his kind offer, as they are employed in surveying the road, and will consec[uently travel too slow for me. I intend starting from Jacksonville, with the help of God, on Monday the 26th instant, and expect to get to the Wil- lamette about the 20th of October. I must en- deavor to travel in company with a few others as the road between here and the Umpqua Valley is as unsafe as ever on account of scout- ing bands of Indians who have not yet come in to make a treaty and are still looked upon as outlaws. They are chiefly the Indians of the Applegate tribe and some few of what is called the Grave Creeks. General Lane is still here. His wound is almost healed, and he intends leaving, I believe, on tomorrow for his home. He has acted bravely on this occasion, and has shown great clemency and moderation towards the poor Indians. Were it not for him the war may not be ended for the next twelve months. His conduct in making a treaty with the re- volted tribes is severely canvassed and bitter- ly commented on by some who delight in scenes of bloodshed and cruelty, and who gloated over the total extermination of the Indians — but I am sure it cannot fail to meet the approbation of the better and more enlightened portion of 186 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY the people of Oregon. The Indians here and along the Coast are a brave and hardy race of men and far superior in physical strength to any Indians I have seen in Oregon. Dviring the late war they fought bravely — and have proved themselves to be a very formidable foe. They used their muskets with perhaps as dead- l.y effect as the wdiites, and have shown them- selves superior to them in that coolness and caution so requisite for the kind of warfare they were carrying on. As Your Lordship has doubtless seen all the details of the proceed- ings in the papers I shall not trouble with any more particulars. I have found but very few Catholics here — the late disturbances have dis- persed them all, the mines were completely abandoned and it is only now that they are com- mencing to work them again. They have paid but very poorly during summer in consequence of the difficulty of working them for want of water — ])usiness here has been consequently dull, ])ut during winter the mining will be car- ried on more l)riskly. I intend preaching here next Sunday in the court house. Jacksonville is a considerable town. ])ut a good deal smaller than Portland. The population consists prin- cipally of miners, packers, storekeepers and gamblers, and there are very few families, Tivault and Angel, formerly of Oregon City, live near Jacksonville. As I have already vis- ited Scottsburgh and the Coast, the following is the plan I propose adopting in my journey home. From here to Canyon, where there are a few Canadians Avith whom I intend spending A MISSIONARY TOUR IN 1853 187 a few days. There are some dozen capitalists near Winchester. I shall stay one Snnday there to give them an opportunity of assisting at Mass and attending to the religious duties. From thence to Salem through Marysville, where I intend spending another Sunda.y. When my business is done in Salem I cross the Wil- lamette and visit the upper Yamhill settlement as far as Dayton and Lafayette and perhaps the Guchtins Plains. I cross the Willamette again at Champoeg and hope to spend a few days with Father Mengarini to revive myself a little before starting for Oregon Cit.y. ^^ Salem, Wednesday, Oct. 26th, 1853. ''My Lord Archbishop: "I arrived in Salem this forenoon from the Santiam country about 11 o'clock. Since then I have been about town a good deal looking for a house to let. There are few vacant in any con- venient position and those would only be rented by the month. You would have to pay as much for one Sunday in the month, as if you had it in use for every day. On those conditions \ did not wish to rent one until I have further instructions from you. The most convenient place in town is a large room which formerly belonged to the Freemasons, but which is now vacant. It can be rented either by the day or by the month. As the owner of it is not now in Salem, I have not been able to know the terms, l)ut I am sure it will be moderate. ''As I informed your Lordship in my letter from Jacksonville, I left that town about the 188 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY end of September. Having come through The Canyon on the 3rd day from Jacksonville I left the main road and followed up Ihe South Pork of the Umpqua toward its source. I met some Canadian and halfbreed families living on it. I passed one Sunday in the neighborhood, and then came on to Winchester, where I mustered a small congregation on the following Sunday. I successively visited all the towns and valleys wiiere I thought I could find a Catholic, and here I am at present just arrivfed at Salem. As I have done all my business here today, I don't intend waiting here for Sunday as the season is too far advanced to waste three days. I expected to have been here for last Sunday, but I was de- tained longer than I anticipated after I crossed the Calapooia Mountains. I spent some days at old O'Reilly's, instructed his wife and baptized her on last Sunday morning before ^fass. On tomorrow I leave here for Cincin- nati, thence I go to Dayton and cross the river at Baptistes Dagnine for the purpose of chang- ing horses at the missions as my Indian pony is almost worn out. '*Your very humble and obedient servant, ''J. CROKE." CHAPTER XIX. FIRST CATHOLIC CHURCH IN SOUTHERN OREGON. 1. Among the Miners. ''Crescent City, California, Sept. 18th, 1854. ''My Lord Archbishop : "I arrived here yesterday, and leave this evening for the mouth of Smith's River, 15i/o miles north and inside the dividing line be^ tween Oregon and California. "As I passed rather rapidly through the min- ing regions on my way here, I have not yet discovered many Catholics there but I intend making a closer investigation on my return. Nearly all that I knew last year have gone to other diggings, and they are so scattered, and sometimes so far separated by almost inacces- sible mountains that it would take whole months to find them all out. Not a creek or gulch in the mountains that there are not some few scattered miners to be found searching after gold and sharing the wild solitudes with the savage grizzly bears that so much abound in Northern California. They wander about like Indians, traveling from diggings to dig- gings and leading a life that is not far removed from barbarism. The Catholics in Jacksonville are very anxious to have a church built amongst them and are willing to help to the utmost of their means. I have given them some hopes of having their wishes realized next year. Next spring, if the mining be successful this winter. 190 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY there would be a fair chance of making a good collection toward building a little church, which will answer not only for that town but for all the mining districts for sixty or seventy miles all around." 2. Plans for a Church at Jacksonville. Father Croke's health gave way under the severe trial to which his extensive mission sub- jected him. In 1857 he went to California and became affiliated with the archdiocese of San Francisco. When Archbishop Blanchet re- turned from South America, he wrote to Father Croke inviting him to return to his old mission and build a church at Jacksonville. The fol- lowing letters tell the result : '^San Francisco, August 14th, 18r)6. ''Archbishop Blanchet: *'My Lord Archbishop: In a former letter I informed your Lordship that I did not think that I could visit Jacksonville this year. This was my conviction then. The Archbishop of San Francisco, however, has determined to send a priest through Crescent City on to Yreka to visit the northern part of his diocese, and I am the person appointed to make this mission. I hope to be able to start from here by the first steamer in September and will first land in Humboldt Bay and be in Crescent City about the 20th of same month. If your Lordship has FIRST CATHOLIC CHURCH 191 made no better arrangements I may spend a few weeks in Jacksonville as I pass through and superintend the erection of the church as far as the funds will go. Charley Casey is down here and won't return for a few months. He says the lumber is on the ground, and if not worked up very soon will either spoil by exposure or be taken off. The timbers have al- ready been got out according to the plan, and it would be impossible now to alter them except by getting new ones. The sills and plating are intended for a church of 22 feet wide by 35 long. From what I can learn there is no cash on hand, but some of the principal inhabitants have promised to assist. If your Lordship could either visit the place yourself this fall or send a priest down I would be most happy in rendering all the assistance in my power in piloting him through the south. I will be fur- nished with all the vestments necessary for my mission from San Francisco and if you should deem it necessary to write a letter directed to me, Crescent City, in care of James Hughes, at any time before the end of September or to Jacksonville, care of Chas. Casey, before the end of October, will reach me. When I leave Jacksonville I intend to return to San Fran- cisco by Yreka and Shasta overland to Sacra- mento." ''Crescent City, Sept. 21st, 1858. "My Lord Archbishop: "I feel rejoiced that your Lordship has at length visited the southern part of your Dio- cese. I am afraid you will find it very rough, 192 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY and the population very thin, owing to the Eraser River excitement. I shall hasten to join yonr Lordship as soon as I can get through with my mission in this section of country. I shall be in Jacksonville by the middle of Octo- ber." 3. Collecting for the Church. ''Jacksonville, Nov. 9th, 1858. "My Lord Archbishop: "I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Your Grace's two letters, one from Canon- ville, and the other, on last evening, from Roseburg. I was sorry to learn by your letter from Canonville of your sufferings and adven- tures during the first few days after leaving here, but I feel grateful that no serious accident occurred. Buggy riding in this country is rather adventurous, as I know by my own expe- rience. As I leave Jacksonville today for Yreka in order to continue my mission I write Your Grace a very brief account of mj- pro- ceedings and success thus far. "On the Sunday after your departure from here I said Mass in Jacksonville, and on the fol- lowing morning started for Althouse, via Ster- lingville and Applegate, in order to collect. I am sure your Lordship will feel glad to learn that the Lord blessed the work and that I suc- ceeded admirably well. I arrived at Sailor Diggings, seventy miles from Jacksonville, on Tuesday evening at 8 o'clock, and early on the FIRST CATHOLIC CHURCH 193 following morning commenced collecting in a place called Allen Gulch, where the greater part of the miners are working. In two days I collected there $400 in cash, a sum far above my most sanguine expectations for a place where there are not more than seventy men in all, and where they have been several months idle for w^ant of water. Every man on the Gulch i — Catholic, Protestant and Orangeman, gave something. The Catholics, God bless them, gave nobly. In the friend's house where I gen- erally stop, I raised $200 in cash, one hundred from himself, fifty from his partner and fifty from his hands. This young man's name is Frank Larkins, and this is not the first time that I have had reason to be grateful for his generosity. I gave no credit, took no names down until I received the money, and thus I realized the $400 in cash. 4. At the Forks of Althouse Creek. ''From Allen Gulch I started on Thursday for Althouse Creek, a distance of ten miles. As the mountains along the creek are very rough, and the miners generally work in the most rugged ravines and in the bed of the creek, I was obliged to leave my horse at the ''town" called Browntow^n and take it on foot for three days, traveling on an average twenty-five miles a day. At 8 o'clock on Friday I started up the creek with a Catholic young man as guide and at 5 o'clock that evening had $200 more collected in cash. The miners are so scattered and the road so rough that I only made four 194 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY miles in a direct line driving the whole day, though I suppose I walked at least twenty-five. I stopped that night at a little trading post called "Grass Flat" and on the following morn- ing continued my journey with another young man as guide for the forks of Althouse Creek. I made $198 that day. Making in all for Alt- house, with a few other dollars which I re- ceived, over $400. There are a great deal more miners here than in Allen Gulch, but very many of them are just returned from Fraser River, and are scarcely making their board. They all, however, paid a little. I took so small as fifty cents in a grocery store from a man who was going to spend it for whiskey. I told him it would buy tAvo pounds of nails. The next day being Sunday, I had no vestments (expect- ing to have been back in Jacksonville) and could not say Mass. I am less scrupulous than your Grace on the point of traveling on Sunday, so I walked back by a better road along the side of mountains mj- two days' journey in three hours to Browntown. That evening at three o'clock I started for Kerbyville; called to see Mr. Allen, who lives near it, for his sub- scription, but received nothing from him. The next evening I started for Jacksonville and col- lected $50 more on the road and arrived in Jacksonville on Tuesday night, having been ab- sent eight days. I was very sorry not to be able to say Mass on All Saints and All Souls, but it was impossible for me to get back sooner with- out leaving my job unfinished. FIRST CATHOLIC CHURCH 195 5. Construction Begun. ''Thus you see, My Lord, that in the neglected part of Oregon I collected in a few days in cash the sum of $856 for a church to be built sixty-five miles from them. This was very for- tunate for otherwise 1 could scarcely meet the expenses as I have been able to collect only $30 in Jacksonville since you left. They all prom- ise, will give their names very readily to be paid at some future day, but names won't build a church and I can't spend much time idl}^ They promise, however, to pay when I come back. The poor miners, on whom alone I count, have nothing just now. i\Iy plan is to go to Yreka, and to return when the rain sets in and spend one or two days collecting before my final departure for Salmon River. Your Lord- ship is no doubt anxious to hear about the church. It was raised on the Octave of All Saints, 8th November, but as the carpenters are busy finishing Anderson's house (which will be finished in a few days) they are not able to go ahead as j^et very rapidly. They have two carpenters at work dressing the sid- ing. I have had a good solid w^all of rock pointed with mortar built all around under the sills. It is nearly two feet square at the cor- ners. It cost about $50. Your Lordship's sug- gestion about the height of the piers arrived too late to be attended to. The church, how- ever, looks very high and when completed will be a neat building. It looks very short. It is 36 by 23. 196 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY 6. Recalled to San Francisco. ''Jacksonville, 0. T.. Dec. 15, '58. ''My Lord Archbishop: "I received your Grace's favor of November addressed to me at Yreka and was ^lad to learn that you got home safe. I left Yreka for this place on Monday, December 13th, and leave tomorrow morning for home. I regret that 1 could not spend more than two days here. 1 have yet a good deal to do in Yreka, and have received a letter from Archbishop Alemany de- siring me -to be in San Francisco immediately after Christmas. "On coming here from Yreka, I was surprised to find so little done to the church in my ab- sence. The carpenters give for excuse that they had not the necessary lumber for the Avin- dow frames, which must be thoroughly sea- soned. The.y have planed all the siding and flooring, have all the lumber required now and will go ahead as quick as necessary with the work. 1 am sure your Grace sees the necessity of sending a priest to the district as soon as possible. If possible he should speak English perfectly and preach well. All here send your Grace their respectful compliments. If at any time, consistently with obedience to my Supe- rior, I can do any good for any portion of Ore- gon, I will be happy in being at your Lordship's disposal. I hope to have the pleasure of seeing you soon in San Francisco, and recommending FIRST CATHOLIC CHURCH 197 myself to your Lordship's prayers I have the honor to remain, with due esteem and respect, ''Your very humble and obedient servant, ^' JAMES CROKE." Father Croke now bade adieu to Oregon. He afterwards became Vicar General of San Fran- cisco. He is remembered as one of the ablest and most devoted priests of pioneer days in the West. He was a brother of xirchbisho]) Croke of Cashel. 14 MOST REV. C. J. SEGHERS Apostle of Alaska CHAPTER XX. AMONG THE INDIANS. 1. Obstacles to Successful Work Among the Indians. The story of the beginning of Catholic Indian missions among the Indians of Oregon has been told in an earlier chapter. For an understand- ing of the work among them subsequent to the establishment of the hierarchy (1845) we must bear in mind the following facts. The Indians of Western Oregon were much inferior both physically and morally to their brethren in the Rocky Mountains. This condition became ac- centuated when the whites came into the coun- try, for the Indians of the interior met the whites only occasionally while those of the coast had an opportunity to learn all the worst vices of the whites from daily intercourse. Even the mission schools do not seem to have helped the Willamette Vallej^ savages. Medorem Crawford was a teacher at the Methodist Mis- sion school at Salem in the forties. He writes of the work in which he was engaged as follows: ''The general result of all that work on the part of the missionaries here was deleterious to the Indians. As fast as we learnt the boys to talk English they would learn to swear. I could hardly find an exception but that they turned 200 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY out the worst Indians in the country." (Ms. A. 19, page 5, Bancroft Lib.) A second fact to be borne in mind is that during the administration of Dr. McLoughlin, that is until 1846, the sav- ages were at peace and the work of the Catholic missionaries Avent on apace. But after the Whitman massacre and the Cayuse war, the re- lations of the whites and Indian tribes were scarcely ever satisfactory and missionary work necessarily greatly impeded. Thus Father Brouillet established a mission at St. Ann's, among the Cayuses, on November 27, 1817. With the aid of an interpreter he translated the prayers into their language but hardly had he begun his work when hostilities broke out with the Avhites and interrupted the mission. 2. Missionary Rivalry. Another obstacle to effective evangelization of the Indians was the bitter rivalry between the various missionary bands. When Bishop Blanchet met Dr. Whitman at Fort Walla Walla in 1847, the latter remarked with some heat: ''I know very well for what purpose you have come." ''All is known," replied the Bishop, ''I come to labor for the conversion of the Indians, and even of the Americans if they are willing to listen to me." At an earlier date when the Indian chiefs were being taught AMONG THE INDIANS 201 to explain the Archbishop's Catholic Ladder to their people, Mrs. Spalding (wife of the min- ister at Lapwai) employed her limited artistic talents in painting a Protestant ladder, which aimed to show the broad road of the Catholic Church as the way to perdition and the straight and narrow path of Protestantism as the way to heaven. (This Protestant ladder is in the possession of Mr. Frederick V. Holman, of Portland.) 3. The Work of Father Mesplie. In view^ of these facts it is not surprising that the later missions among the Indians did not achieve the success which the earlier attempts promised. Nevertheless there was no lack of zeal on the part of the missionaries. The man- tle of DeSmet seems to have fallen on Father Toussaint Mesplie. Ordained to the priesthood in 1850, he had already begun his work among the savages in the Willamette Valley. In 1849 he opened a mission among the Chinooks at the mouth of the Columbia and attended the various tribes in the neighborhood. Here too he visited the Catholic soldiers at Fort Astoria and laid the foundation for his extended and valuable service as army chaplain. After his ordination he was sent to The Dalles, where he took charge of St. Peter's Mission and attended 202 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY to the spiritual wants of the Waseos and va- rious confederated tribes who were later placed in the Warm Springs Reservation. He gained such influence among these tribes that in the fall of 1855 when the Indian outbreak began, he prevailed upon the Wasco tribe not to join with the others against the whites. During the period of hostilities he was in communication with the various military posts and kept them informed of the hostile plans of the savages. 4. Appointed United States Post Chaplain. In 1863 Father Mesplie was sent to take charge of the new mining settlements that were springing up in Idaho Territory. While at- tending to the spiritual Avants of the Irish miners, he did not forget the needs of the va- rious Indian tribes in the neighborhood. He found time also to perform the duties of chap- lain to the soldiers at Fort Boise. In 1861: the Shoshone and Bannock tribes of Indians be- came very troublesome. These Indians held full control of the emigrant and stage roads leading to Oregon and Washington Territory. Every few days, says an eye-witness,^ the man- gled corpse of some stage driver, frontier settler or venturesome miner or unfortunate emigrant IJohn A. O'Farrell, who donated the block of land foi the first Catholic church in Boise. AMONG THE INDIANS 203 would be brought to Fort Boise for interment, a victim to the brutality of the savages. Father Mesplie set out for the camps of the hostile tribes and showed them the error of their ways with such effect that he gathered more than two hundred of them on the parade ground of Fort Boise and baptized them all on a single day. It is reliably asserted that none of these Indians who were converted by Father Mesplie ever again bore arms against the whites. In recognition of his services he was appointed United States Post Chaplain in Au- gust, 1872, and assigned to Fort Boise. 5. Father Croquet at Grand Ronde. Another name inseparably connected with the later Indian missions in Oregon is that of Father Adrian Croquet, a native of Belgium, who arrived at Oregon City in 1859 to devote himself to the spiritual welfare of the savages. Father Croquet was initiated into his new field of labor by Father Mesplie, whom he accom- panied ''on an apostolic expedition among sev- eral Indian tribes dwelling along the banks of the Columbia River in the neighborhood of Mount Hood. We were everywhere most affec- tionately received, the chiefs honoring us by offering the calumet." In October, 1860, Father Croquet was definitely settled in the 204 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY Grand Ronde Indian Reservation in Yamhill County. In reference to his first visit to the Reservation he writes: ''We were most cor- dially w^elcomed by the Captain and the officers of Fort Yamhill, which borders on the Reserva- tion. We celebrated INIass at the Fort, preached and admitted to the Sacraments the soldiers and the members of a few Catholic families occupying land in the neighborhood. The Indians were not forgotten ; the Agent, Mr. ]\Iiller, giving us full scope to do all the good we could. He is a most estimable offi- cial, who takes the poor Redman's interests to heart, and whose sympathies are all with the Catholic missionaries." Father Croc^uet also had charge of the Siletz Reservation but there he was not able to report the same kind treat- ment on the part of the Agent that he had expe- rienced at Grand Ronde. He was successful, however, in gaining the good will of the In- dians. After nearly forty years of untiring and devoted service of the spiritual welfare of his Indian 1)rethren the saintly old missionary returned (1898) to his fatlierland to spend his last da^'s. 6. President Grant's Indian Policy. The constant outbreaks on the part of the savages resulted in the cpiartering of military AMONG THE INDIANS 205 forces among them and the assigning of mili- tary agents to take charge of the various Indian stations. In 1870 President Grant inaugurated a new system for the government of the In- dians. On the 5th of December of that year he announced to Congress that he had determined to give all the Indian agencies to "such relig- ious denominations as had heretofore estab- lished missions among the Indians." In carry- ing out this policy many of the Catholic In- dian tribes were placed under non-Catholic control. Against this condition, Archbishop Blanchet, under date of July 8, 1871, addressed a strong letter of vigorous and indignant pro- test to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. The Archbishop in his letter calls attention to the injustice of this procedure by recounting the work which the Catholic missionaries had done among the savages of the Oregon country from the earliest days. He recalled the w^ork of himself and of Father Demers from Fort Colvile to Chino;)k Point and from Eastern Oregon to the Fraser River ; of Father DeSmet and his zealous co-workers among the Flatheads and other Indian tribes of the Rocky ]\Ioun- tains; the establishment of the Yakima mis- sion by Father D'Herbomez, 0. M. I., subse- quently Bishop of British Columbia, with his in- defatigable brethren of the Oblates in the year 206 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY 1847 and its maintenance until the Indian war of 1855 forced him to retire ; the mission of Father Brouillet among the Cayuse tribe in 1847, and after the war, the continuance of that mission at Walla Walla by Father Chirouse, O. M. I., from 1852 to 1856, when another outbreak forced him to abandon it, and its further main- tenance at Umatilla Reservation by Father Ver- meesch from 1866 to 1871. The Archbishop also instanced the mission of Father Mesplie at The Dalles and his teaching among the Wasco and allied tribes until these Indians were trans- ferred to the Warm Springs Reservation and finally the mission at Grand Ronde from 1860 to 1871 established by Father Croquet, w^io built a church and opened a school among the Indians there. The Yakima Indians, among whom Fathers Chirouse and D'lierbomez had labored for many years, were in 1870 placed under Protestant control. 7. Commission Unfriendly to Catholic Cause, In view of all these facts the Archbishop pro- tested that a grave injustice was being done to the Catholic Church. Acting as spokesman for all the Bishops of the country in the interest of the Indian missions he carried on a volum- inous correspondence with Mr. Delano, Secre- tary of the Interior, and had the Archbishops AMONG THE INDIANS 207 and Bishops direct protest to the same author- ity. Very little results could reasonably be hoped for. Father DeSmet, who was in close touch with the administration through his em- ployment as a peace emissary among the sav- ages, wrote to the Archbishop from St. Louis under date of March 11, 1871, that the adminis- tration of the Commission on Indian Affairs was exclusively Protestant and disinclined to assign any Catholic agents to our Indian mis- sions. He had been invited in January of that year to Washington to assist at a meeting of the Indian Commissioners appointed by President Grant. He found himself the only Catholic in a large gathering called to apportion the Indian stations to the various denominations. The apportionment was made, he adds, with but lit- tle exception, to the advantage of the Protest- ant sects. This was of course a high-handed policy. The Indians were not consulted about the religion that was to be thrust upon them. Thus thousands of Catholic Indians who were most anxious for Catholic missionaries to min- ister to them and to instruct their children, were denied the elementary right of choosing their own religion. In the case of the Yakima and Nez Perces Reservations, the Indian Com- missioners in June, 1871, permitted the Cath- olics to build chapels but the station was under 208 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY Protestant control. Agent Wilbur at the Yak- ima Keservation refused the Catholic priests entrance to the reservation to teach and to ad- minister sacraments to the sick. The agent frequently denied to parents the privilege of taking their children to the Catholic Church for Mass and instruction. 8. Catholic Indian Mission Bureau Established. The situation developed a very acrimonious controversy between the Protestant and Cath- olic missionaries and s^^mpathizers. The con- troversy waxed to a white heat when Eev. H. H. Spalding revived the dying embers of the Whitman discussion and invented the Whitman myth to destroy the credit of the Catholic Indian missionaries. Spalding V. vile pamphlet was published in 1871 as a Senate Executive Document at the instance of Secretary Delano. This document became the official statement of the Whitman Legend which has been dis- cussed in a former chapter. In the course of this protracted conflict it became evident to the Archbishop and the Bishop of Nesqually that the large interests at stake required the con- tinual presence of an authorized representative of the Catholic Indian Missions at Washington. For this purpose Father Brouillet, who was AMONG THE INDIANS 209 thoroughly acquainted with the missionary' field, was chosen and appointed Director of the Catholic Indian Mission Bureau in 1874. This bureau was reorganized in 1879 and con- tinues to efficientl}^ represent the cause of the Catholic Indians. NOTE.— Benjamin Alvord, who was stationed at The Dalles in 1853, as Captain of the Fourth Infantry, wrote in 1873 of the services of Fathers Mesplie and Pandosy, O. M. I.: "Father Mesplie was a Catholic priest having charge of a mission (not a mile from the military post of Fort Dalles) to the Wascoes, who were friendly and have always remained so, fighting on our side down to the recent Modoc war. "But the hostile Indians were Yakimas, Palouse and Cayuse, and one of their principal centers, one hundred miles north-northeast from The Dalles, was near what is now Fort Simcoe, where there was another mission under Father Pandosy. Early in the spring of 1853, Father Mesplie showed me confidentially a letter to him from Father Pandosy, making known a gigantic combination of all the tribes on the frontier. I took immediate steps to report to the Government these schemes of the In- dians." Had the warning been heeded the Indian war of 1855 might have been avoided. k ' m Wm M T 'if' V OLP CATHEDRAL. AND FATHER FIERENS, ITS BUILDER CHAPTER XXL LAST YEARS OF ARCHBISHOP BLANCHET. 1. Father Fierens Becomes Pastor of Portland. The Archbishop had taken up his residence in Portland in August, 1862. The following year Father J. T. Fierens, who had been Pastor of Jacksonville, was appointed to the pro-Cathe- dral, a charge which he held continuously for thirty years, until his death in 1893. In 1878, under the direction of Father Fierens, the old church structure was taken down and on the Feast of the Assumption of the same year the corner stone of a Gothic Cathedral was laid. For a quarter of a century the zealous and energetic pastor was one of the foremost men in public view in Portland. 2. Erection of the Vicariate of Idaho. In 1868, Archbishop Blanchet was relieved of the care of the eastern portion of his dio- cese by the erection on March 3rd of that year of the Vicariate Apostolic of Idaho. The Sec- ond Plenary Council of Baltimore had requested this step of the Holy See. Father Lootens, who had gone with Bishop Demers to Vancouver in 1852 as a pioneer missionary, was consecrated in August of that year as Bishop of Castaballa and Vicar Apostolic of Idaho. When Bishop 212 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY Lootens went to Idaho Territory early in 1869 he found there only two priests. Fathers Mesplie and Poulin. The mines which had been opened had not prospered; the rich mines of Idaho were still to be prospected. Meanwhile the miners left the territory in large numbers and the Catholic population was notably dimin- ished. The Sisters of the Holy Names who had established a school at Idaho City in 1868 were forced to close their doors within two years. Two of the best churches were destroyed by fire and the small missions of the Vicariate were badly encumbered by debt. In 1875 Bishop Lootens, broken in health, resigned his p )sition and retired to Victoria. The Vicariate of Idaho remained under the jurisdiction of the Archbish' p of Oregon City until the conse- cration of Bishop Glorieux as titular Bishop of Appolonia in 1885. The diocese of Boise was erected August 25, 1893. 3. Golden Jubilee of Archbishop Blanchet. In 1869 Archbishop Blanchet solemnly cele- brated the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood. In a circular to the clergy of the archdiocese announcing the jubliee he writes: ''On the 18th of the present month of July — which falls on a Sunday, as in 1819 — if it please God, we will enjoy a great favor, LAST YEARS OF ARCHBISHOP BLANCHET 213 which, considering the uncertainty and fickle- ness of human life, we hardly expected, in the midst of our long missionary life in hard and incessant labors in this country and elsewhere. This favor is that of receiving from the Most High, the grace of completing a career long enough to be able to celebrate the holy sacri- fice of the Mass on the occasion of the jubilee of the fiftieth anniversary of our ordination to the priesthood, and of our first Mass on the following day. So signal a favor fills our soul with gladness and gratitude and moves us also to invite you and all the members of your de- voted congregation to join with us in humble and fervent prayer in order to render solemn thanksgiving to Almighty God for so great a favor." Before the Pontifical Mass celebrated by the Archbishop, assisted by his brother, the Bishop of Nesqually, the Catholic Library and Chris- tian Doctrine Society of Portland presented an address of congratulation through a committee of ten representative laymen of the city. ''The event of this day," they observe, "reminds us of the fact that during the present year our Holy Father, Pius the Ninth, has likewise had the good fortune of celebrating the jubilee of the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood. As your Grace will leave in 15 214 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY a short time to attend the approaching General Council, we take this occasion to say that our hearts and our prayers will be with you in your far distant journey. We pray that you may have a safe and pleasant voyage to the Holy See of St. Peter, that the wisdom of heaven may guide and direct all your labors, and that on the completion of the deliberations of the Ecu- menical Council you may have a speedy and safe return to your loving and dutiful children in Christ in this Archdiocese and that you may be long spared to live and labor in your chosen field." 4. Departs for the Vatican Council. Early in October of the same year the Arch- bishop addressed a pastoral on the Infallibility of the Church to the Catholics of Portland on the eve of his departure for Rome to assist at the Vatican Council. At that Council the Arch- bishop was a strong advocate of the opportune- ness of the declaration of Papal Infallibility and prepared a sermon to be delivered to the assembled Bishops urging the promulgation of the decree. It is interesting to recall that the Archbishop in going to Rome traveled east- ward from San Francisco over the newly com- pleted Union Pacific Railway, which was to exert so large an influence in the material prog- LAST YEARS OF ARCHBISHOP BLANCHET 215 ress of the West. In his journal of the trip the Archbishop tells of crossing the ocean with Father Ireland (now Archbishop) of St. Paul. 5. Catholic Sentinel Established in 1870. The first issue of the Catholic Sentinel ap- peared in February, 1870, with H. L. Herman and J. F. Atkinson as publishers. A pros- pectus tells us that the publishers have decided to undertake the task "in consequence of the kind encouragement and promised support of the Very Rev. J. F. Fierens, Vicar General and Administrator of the Archdiocese." Father Fierens was fully awake to the necessity of an efficient Catholic press to promote the cause of religion and morality. He writes as follows: ''We judge the time most desirable and oppor- tune for a Catholic publication in this State, when now in Ecumenical Council the Catholic world is assembled in the Eternal City of Rome ; when undoubtedl}^ our Church, by sectarian and infidel newspapers will be assailed, misrep- resented and abused, it behooves us more than ever to defend her, and to enlighten and dis- abuse so many deluded and misguided people." The new paper received the hearty approval of the Bishops of the Province. The Archbishop wrote from Rome under date of March 12, 1870: ''The first number was received here on 216 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY the 10th inst., and it took me indeed by sur- prise, as it was altogether unexpected, but it was most heartily welcomed. Many warm wishes for its success and long life !" The Sen- tinel remained for years under the able editor- ship of the pioneer publisher, Mr. S. J. Mc- Cormick, one of the first mayors of Portland. 6. St. Michael's College Opened. In 1871 St. Michael's College for boys was opened at Portland. More than sixty pupils presented themselves the opening day, August 28th. The work of building the college was undertaken and brought to completion in three months. The success of the school was largely due to the energetic efforts of Father Fierens and the capable direction of the first principal. Rev. A. J. Glorieux, now Bishop of Boise. Sub- sequently the school passed into the charge of Rev. Bernard Orth, who later became Arch- bishop of Victoria. Contemporary accounts tell us that the College had a brass band, telegraph apparatus, physical laboratory and a printing office. The students published a monthly paper, The Archangel, which enjoj^ed a cir- culation of about 500. LAST YEARS OF ARCHBISHOP BLANCHET 217 7. St. Vincent's Hospital Established in Portland. The Sisters of Providence, who had estab- lished a hospital in Vancouver in 1858, accepted an invitation to open a similar institution in Portland. The new building was dedicated in the presence of a large assemblage on July 19, 1875. ''We may feel proud of our St. Vincent's Hospital," said Father Fierens, in his address at the dedicatory services, ''this future home of the sick, as it is the first in the State, and one in which not only Catholics but every citizen is interested, as it admits all religionists. We must also thank the good citizens of Portland who have aided with no sparing hand in its erection ; they knew ' that such enterprises as these are limited in their benefits to no particu- lar creed, but that their good results must affect the entire community. So men who were not of our faith have not hesitated to give of their means to push this enterprise forward." 8. Active Administration of Archbishop Blanchet Closes. The year 1870 may be considered as the last of the active administration of Archbishop Blanchet. At that time his archdiocese con- tained twenty-three clergy, twenty-two churches, sixty-eight Sisters, nine academies for girls, one college for boys, four parochial 218 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY schools for boys, two parochial schools for girls, an orphanage and a hospital. He had secured the care of two Indian reservations, one at Grand Ronde with a Sisters' school, the other at Umatilla with a school directed by the pastor. 9. Archbishop Seghers Becomes Coadjutor. The last ten years had witnessed a marvelous growth, and the Archbishop feeling that his years were drawing to a close, sought for an assistant on whose shoulders he might lay the burdens of the archdiocese. Such an assistant he found in Bishop Charles John Seghers, who had been consecrated Bishop of Vancouver Island to succeed the pioneer Bishop Demers in 1878. The extensive territory of Alaska having been attached to the diocese of Vancouver Is- land Bishop Seghers made a visitation of the mining camps and Indian settlements of that vast region, returning to Victoria in 1878, after fifteen months' absence, winning deservedly the title, ''Apostle of Alaska." On his return to Victoria he learned of his appointment as co- adjutor to the Archbishop of Oregon. On July 1, 1879, the new Archbishop arrived in Port- land, where he was welcomed by the venerable founder of the archdiocese, surrounded by his clergy and laity. "This day of your reception LAST YEARS OF ARCHBISHOP BLANCHET 219 in this Cathedral as my coadjutor and future successor is the happiest day of my life," said Archbishop Blanchet. On behalf of the clergy Father Fierens extended to the new ruler of the archdiocese ''united congratulations and our united obedience. Eleven months ago when first your name was mentioned in con- nection with the coadjutorship of this See, the hearts of both the clergy and the laity were gladdened at the prospect that our venerable and dearly beloved Archbishop Blanchet, who has planted the cross, the standard of Chris- tianity in this diocese, was to be suc- ceeded in the Episcopate by one so capable of carrying on the numerous works of piety, edu- cation and charity, which were inaugurated under his watchful and fatherly supervision and we are glad that we can entrust to your solicitude our young institutions and parishes and are confident that you will consolidate the good that has already been done. "^ 10. Archbishop Blanchet's Farewell Pastoral. After initiating his successor into the work of the archdiocese the venerable Archbishop with- drew wholly from active labors. He published lArchbishop Seghers was but one of the many devoted priests who received their preparation for missionary work in the Pacific Northwest at the celebrated Univer- sity of Louvain in Belgium. 220 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY his farewell pastoral on February 27, 1881, an- nouncing the acceptance of his resignation by the Holy Father. The aged prelate approached the altar with tottering steps to address for the last time his beloved congregation. His lips falter but he speaks with the dignity of an apostle: '* After sixty-two years of the priest- hood; after forty-three years of toilsome labor on this Coast ; after an episcopate of thirty-six years; after thirtj^-five years spent at the head of this Ecclesiastical Province, we may say with the Apostle St. Paul, 'The time of my dis- solution is at hand. I have finished my course' ; and with Holy Simeon, 'Let therefore the Lord dismiss His servant in peace for truly my eyes have seen the wonderful works of His salva- tion.' We came to this country accompanied by the late Modeste Demers, the first Bishop of Vancouver Island, in 1838, to preach the true Gospel for the first time ; and where then we saw nothing but 'darkness and the shadow of death,' we have now flourishing dioceses and vicariates, prosperous missions, a zealous clergy, fervent communities and a Catholic peo- ple of whom we expect great works and noble deeds. "At the age of eighty-six years, we feel that *we are growing old like a garment' and that our 'generation being at an end' our time has LAST YEARS OF ARCHBISHOP BLANCHET 221 arrived to retire into a place of rest and of soli- tude, in order 'to recount to God all our years in the bitterness of our soul.' Farewell then, beloved and reverend brethren of the priest- hood, who have been so often our consolation. Farewell, beloved daughters, Christian virgins, spouses of Jesus Christ, who have so often edi- fied and rejoiced us with the perfume of your virtues. Farwell, beloved children of the laity, who have been so long the object of our con- cern and of our prayerful solicitude. Fare- well, young men, in whom we behold with pleasure the future of the Catholic Church in this country. Farewell, little children, the be- loved of Jesus Christ, and the cherished of our hearts. We part now but we have the firm hope of seeing you forever in heaven. Forget not your old and loving spiritual father; forgive him his mistakes and shortcomings; pray for him that his sins may be forgiven and forgotten when he will be called on to give an account of his stewardship." The Archbishop having' relinquished entirely the cares of the arch- diocese, the Pallium was conferred on his suc- cessor on the Feast of the Assumption, 1881. 11. Death of Archbishop Blanchet. Two years later, June 18, 1883, the Patriarch of the West passed to his reward. Archbishop 16 222 PIONEER CATHOLIC HISTORY Seghers at the Pontifical Requiem Mass at the Cathedral pronounced the following words of eulogy with which we may appropriately close our account of the first missionary, first bishop, first metropolitan of the Pacific Northwest : "Do you realize it, beloved brethren? He is the apostle of this Coast, the foundation of this mission, the cornerstone of this church ; the seed that was sown here and grew into a large, lofty tree was sown by his hand; to him under God we owe the flourishing condition of Chris- tianity in this country ; and he is dead ! . , Do you know% beloved brethren, that a time will come when the name of Archbishop Blanchet will be coupled with those of Las Casas, the first missionary of Central America, of Mar- quette and Breboeuf, the pioneers of the cross in Canada and the States of the Atlantic? ''Why? Because he was the first missionary, the apostle of Oregon ; he is to Oregon what St. Boniface was to Germany, what St. Augustine was to England, what St. Patrick was to Ire- land ! And, believe me, our children will envy us the blessing of having seen him, of having conversed with him, of having listened to his voice." BIBLIOGRAPHY The following list contains the principal sources and authori- ties which have been consulted in the preparation of this volume. Archives of the Archdiocese of Oregon City. Manuscript Journals of Archbishops F. N. Blan- chet and Charles Seghers. Letters of early mis- sionaries, official papers, etc. Bagley, Clarence B. In the Beginning (Chapter LXIII, of Pioneer Reminiscences of Puget Sound, by Ezra Meeker). Seattle, 1905. Bancroft, H. H. History of the Northwest Coast (San Francisco, 1884.) — Idem; History of Oregon (San Francisco, 1886-1888). Barrows, Rev. Wm. Oregon; the Struggle for possession (American Commonwealth Series). (Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1883.) Its inclusion in the Commonwealth series gave the book an unmerited reputation and did more to spread the Whitman myth than all other agencies. Barrows was made financial agent of Whitman College, 1887, and held the position until his death in 1891, Beadle, H. M. American Catholic Historical Researches. Octo- ber, 1899, pp. 187-197. Whitman Legend. Reaches same conclusion as Bourne. 224 BIBLIOGRAPHY Blanchet, Most Rev. F. N. Letters on the Catholic Indian Missions of Ore- gon. (Portland, 1871.) Address of the Catholic Clergy of Oregon on President Grant's Indian Policy. (Portland, 1874.) Blanchet, F. N. The Key to the Catholic Ladder. (New York, 1859.) — Pastoral letter concerning the two first Dogmatic Constitutions of the Vatican Council. (From out the Flamminian Gate.) Portland, 1870.— Pastoral for the Lent of 1876.— Pastoral Letter and Conciliary Discourse, also Address to Pope Pius IX. (1871.) Blanchet, F. N. Jubilee of Fiftieth Anniversary of the Ordination to the Priesthood of Most Rev. F. N. Blanchet. (Portland, July 18, 1869.) Pamphlet, p. 15. Blanchet, F. N. Historical Sketches of the Catholic Church in Oregon. (Catholic Sentinel Press, Portland, Ore., 1878; new edition, Ferndale, Wash., 1910.) Blanchet, F. N. Pastoral Letter promulgating the Jubilee. (Port- land, 1865.) — Historical Notes and Reminiscences. (Portland, 1883.)— Life and Labors of Most Rev. F. N. Blanchet with funeral sermons by Most Rev. Chas. Seghers. (Portland, 1883.) Blanchet, Rev. F. X. Dix Ans sur la Cote Du Pacifique. Quebec, 1873. Bolduc, Rev. J. Z. B. Mission de la Colombie; Lettre et Journal. (Que- bec, 1844.) BIBLIOGRAPHY 225 Bourne, Edward Gaylord Essays in Historical Criticism. (New York, 1901.) The Whitman Legend, pp. 1-109. — (Independently of Marshall, Bourne arrives at the conclusion that the Whitman Legend is wholly mythical.) Brouillet, Very Rev. J. B. A. Vicar-General of the Diocese of Walla Walla. Authentic Account of the Murder of Dr. Whit- man. (2nd ed., Portland, 1869.) Also published unintentionally by Ross Browne as part of his Report in Executive Document No. 38, House of Representatives, 35th Congress, 1st Session, dated San Francisco, Dec. 4, 1857. Brouillet's pamphlet was written in 1848; published in 1853. Burnett, Peter Hardeman Recollections and Opinions of An Old Pioneer. (New York, 1880.)— Id., The Path Which Led a Protestant Lawyer to the Catholic Church. New Edition, St. Louis, 1910. Catholic Sentinel (Files 1870-1911). Portland, Oregon. Catholic World Magazine February, 1872, pp. 665-682. Contains critical ex- amination of Spalding's pamphlet issued as Senate Document, Chaparro, i?.' P. Noticias sobre la Provincia Ecclesiastica de Ore- gon. (Valparaiso, Chili, 1856.) A translation from the French, published during the South American tour of Archbishop Blanchet. 226 BIBLIOGRAPHY Chittenden and Richardson DeSmet's Life and Travels, 4 vols. (Complete edition of DeSmet's letters. Critical.) Harpers. Clarke, Richard H. Lives of Deceased Bishops of the United States, Vol. III. (New York, 1888.) De Baets, VAhbe Maurice Mgr. Seghers, L'Apotre de Alaska. (Ghent and Paris, 1896.) Dugas, VAhhc G. Monseigneur Provencher et les Missions de la Riviere-Rouge. (Montreal, 1889.) Durieu, Rt. Rev. Paul (0. M. I.) Historique du Traveaux du Oblats en Oregon et en Colombie Britannique. (Manuscript, 12 pp.) Fiske, John, Unpublished Orations. Printed for members only. (The Bibliophile Society, Boston, 1909, 489 copies.) — Discredits Whitman Legend. Gleanings of Fifty Years; A Sister of the Holy Names. Portland, 1909. A most interesting account of the work of the Sisters of the Holy Names of the Oregon Province. Holman, Frederick V. Dr. John McLoughlin, the Father of Oregon. (Cleveland, 1907.) A classic monograph on early Oregon history. Kane, Paul Wanderings of an Artist among the Indians of North America. (London, 1859, pp. 455). — At BIBLIOGRAPHY 227 Whitman's Mission, July 22, 1847. Invited Whit- man to Fort Walla Walla with McBean to avoid danger. MacLeod, Rev. Xavier D. Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary in North America. New York, 1866. (Chapter XIII con- tains account of the journey of Sister Renilda and her companions. Sisters of Notre Dame, to Oregon in 1847.) Mallet, Edmond, LL. B. The Origin of the Oregon Mission. Art, in U. S. Historical Magazine, Vol. I, No, 1. (January, 1887.) — Memoirs of Archbishop F. N, Blanchet. Unpublished Ms. in the library of I'Union St. Jean-Baptiste d'Amerique, Woonsocket, R. I. (Copy in possession of author of this volume.) Marshall, William I. Acquisition of Oregon and the Long Suppressed Evidence about Marcus Whitman, 2 vols. — (Se- attle, 1911.) Limited edition printed by subscrip- tion. (200 copies.) Marshall, William I. History vs. The Whitman Saved Oregon Story. (Chicago, 1894.) Marshall, Wm. I. The Hudson's Bay Company's Archives furnish no support to the Whitman Saved Oregon Story. (Chicago, 1905.) A criticism of address by Dwight N. Hillis. 228 BIBLIOGRAPHY Mesplie, Rev. Toussaint Petitions and papers praying for relief for act- ing as Indian agent and negotiator, peace-maker, and chaplain to the United States army. (Mis- cellaneous Doc. House of Representatives, Jan- uary 26, 1874.) Metropolitan Catholic Almanac and Laity's Directory (Baltimore). De Mofras, M. Duflot Exploration du territoire de I'Oregon, 2 vols. — (Paris, 1844.) Attache a la legation de France a Mexico. Second volume tells of Catholic mis- sionaries in Oregon. Morice, Rev. A. G. (0. M. I.) History of the Catholic Church in Western Can- ada, 2 vols. (Toronto, 1910.) — Dictionnaire His- torique des Canadiens et des Metis Francais de rOuest (Quebec, 1908.) Notice sur le Territoire et sur a la Mission de I'Ore- gon suivie de quelques lettres des soeurs de Notre Dame etablies a Saint-Paul du Wallamette (Bruxelles, 1847). (Letters of the Sisters of Notre Dame, dated at St. Paul, Ore., 1844-5) The Notre Dame Quarterly San Jose, Cal. The Sisters of Notre Dame on the Pacific Coast, 1910-1911. Oregon Archives From earliest attempt on the part of the people to form a government to 1849. 1841-1849. (Salem, Ore., 1853.) — Contains address of Canadian cit- izens of Oregon to the meeting at Champoeg, BIBLIOGRAPHY 229 March 4, 1843, pp. 12-13. Father Accolti's an- swer about ammunition. Oregon Archives Ms., 156-160. Oregon American and Evangelical Unionist Edited by Rev. J. S. Griffin, at Oregon City. Is- sued semi-monthly. Devoted its pages very large- ly to giving publicity to Spalding's insane calum- nies. The issue of June 7, 1848, contains Bur- nett's reply to Spalding. August 16, 1848, tells of interception of ammunition by Lieutenant Rodgers. Oregonian Files (Portland, 1850—.) Palladino, 8. J., L. B. Indian and White in the Northwest or a His- tory of Catholicity in Montana (Baltimore, 1894). (Has given currency to the correct explanation of the visit of the Rocky Mountain Indians to St. Louis in 1831-39.) Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Association (Portland, 1900-1911). Rapport sur les Missions du Diocese de Quebec (March, 1853,) (Lettre de Mgr. Demers.) (Juin, 1843-0, Mission de la Columbie, pp. 22-116.) (Juillet, 1847,) Memoire presente a la S. Con- gregation de la Propaganda sur le territoire de rOregon par Mgr. F. N. Blanchet, eveque de Drasa. pp. 1-24. Extraits de diverses lettres de M. Demers. 230 BIBLIOGRAPHY Rapport siir les Missions dii Diocese de Quchec (Mars, 1851). Voyage de I'Eveque de Walla Walla. Rapport de M. Brouillet sur sa Mission de Ste. Ann (p. 39). Reports of the Board of Indian Commissioners (Annual, 1869—) Rossi, Uabhe L. Six Ans en Amerique (Deuxieme edition, Paris, 1863). The author was at Vancouver, Washing- ton Territory in 1859. De Saint-Amant, M. Voyages en Californie, et dans I'Oregon, 1851- 52. (Paris, 1854.) Saint-Amant sent by min- istry of Foreign Affairs of French Republic to California and Oregon to examine with view to French Commerce. The Empire succeeded the Republic. No official report but above book pub- lished. "Envoye du gouvernement Francaise, 1851-2." Shea, John Gilmary History of the Catholic Church in the United States. Vol. IV. deals with Oregon. (New York, 1892.) Snowden, Clinton A. History of Washington, 4 vols. (New York, 1909), An excellent work. The first two volumes deal with the pioneer history of the Oregon Country. Spalding, Rev. H. H. Senate Executive Document 37, 41st Congress, 3rd Session. (Contains Spalding's version of the Whitman affair.) BIBLIOGRAPHY 231 Tasse, Joseph Les Canadiens de I'Ouest, 2 vols. (Montreal, 1878.) —Gabriel Franchere, Vol. II, p. 261, ff. — Pierre Chrysologue Pambrun, Vol. II, p. 299, ff. — Joseph Larocque, Vol. II., p. 321, ff. Transactions of the Oregon Pioneer Association Salem, 1874-1887. Van der Donct Founders of the Church in Idaho. American Eccl. Review, 1905. Van der Heyden, Rev. J. Mgr. Adrian J. Croquet, Indian Missionary. (Series of articles in the Records of the Amer- ican Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, 1905.) Victor, Frances Fuller The Early Indian Wars of Oregon. (Salem, Ore., 1894.) White, Br. Elijah Ten Years in Oregon; Travels and Adventures of Dr. E. White and Lady, West of the Rocky Mts. (Ithaca, N. Y., 1848.) Dr. White had been med- ical missionary at Methodist mission in Wil- lamette Valley 1838-40. Sub-Indian agent for Oregon, 1842-45. Only U. S. official residing in Oregon before 1849. Wilkes Exploring Expedition Vol. IV., p. 348 seq., tells of Blanchet's opposi- tion to provisional government and justifies it. INDEX Abernethy, George, 12, 112 Abernethy Island, 111, 114 Acadia, 17, 20 Accolti, Rev., 135 Alaska, Apostle of, 218 Albany, 175 Alexander, Fort, 89, 90 Allemany, Archbishop, 190, 196 Althouse Creek, 192, 193 Alphonse, Mother, 170 American Board Mission, 10, 79, 148 American Supremacy, 95 Angelus, First in Oregon, 42 in Washington, 42 In Victoria, 157 Antagonism of Missionaries, 32, 42, 200 Antwerp, 86 Applegate. Jesse, 176 Asiatic Cholera, 18 Assiniboine River, 25 Astor, John Jacob, 1, 37, 59 Astoria, 1. 44, 59, 86 Avignon, 133 Bailey, Capt., 126 Baillargeon, Archbishop, 19 Baltimore, Archdiocese of, 97 Council of, 62, 158, 211 Bancroft Library, 94, 200 Bannock Indian, 202 Barrows (historian), 152, 170 Beaver, Steamer, 91 Belgium, 85. 131, 134 Benton, Senator, 108 Big Bend, 32 Bitter Root Mission, 74 Black Robes, 60, 71, 78 Black Feet Indians, 75 Blanchet. A. M. A., 18. 132, 136, 143. 158 Blanchet, Francois, Norbert, Acadian Mission, 20 Arrived in Oregon, 12, 3*3 Early Life, 17, 19 Consecrated Bishop, 98 Opens Council, 155 Moves to Portland, 171 Appointed to Oregon, 30 Indian Policy, 205 Last Years, 211 Meets DeSmet, 84 Journey to Oregon, 31 Provisional Government, 93, 96 Blanchet, Dr. Francois, 17 Blanchet, Mgr. F. X., 173 Blanchet, Dr. Jean, 18 Boise, Fort, 202, 212 Bolduc, Rev., 90 Bolivia, 162 "Bostons," 48 Bourget, Mgr., 98, 169 Bourne (historian), 152 Breboeuf. 222 British Columbia, 85, 89 Brouillet. Rev.. 137, 142, 200 Brown, Mt., 12, 32 Bryant, Chief Justice, 112 Burnett, Hon. Peter, H., 46, 49, 94, 136, 138 Calapooia Indians, 128 California. 46, 109, 159 Gold Discovered. 129 Campbellites, 138 Canadians. 26, 27, 59, 128 Canadien, 18 Cape Disappointment, 107 Cascades, 47 Cathedral. Oregon City, 135 Portland. 167, 211 Catholic Census, 35, 99, 162, 167, 217 Catholic Indian Bureau, 208 Catholic Ladder, 39, 44, 201 232 INDEX 233 Catholic Library Society, 213 Catholic Sentinel, 215 Cayuse Indians, 32, 143' Cedars, 23, 24 Champoeg, 37, 172 Chili, 162 Chinook Indians, 35. 44 Chirouse, Rev., 206 Clackamas, 89 Clarke, General, 59, 60, 70 Codfishery. 150 Coeur d'Alene, 75, 83 Cologne, 133 Colorado River, 64 Columbia River, Commercial Artery, 1 Mission to be located north of, 29, 31, 43 Colvile, Fort, 32, 77, 149 Congiata. Rev., 104 Congress, 95 Continental Divide, 64, 69 Cook, Rev., 22 Coos Bay. 177, 181 Council Bluffs, 62. 68 Cowlitz, 14, 30, 34. 36 Crawford, Medorem, 199 Crescent City, 189 Croke, Rev., 163, 165, 190. 197 Croquet, Rev., 203 Cross Island, 44 Danube, 13*3 Dartmouth College, 145 Dayton, 187 Deady, Judge M., 96 Delano, Secretary. 206 Delorme, Rev., 133, 136 Demers, Rev., 12, 31. 32, 41. 89, 98. 124, 137, 155 DeSmet, Rev., 12, 41, 61, 64, 73. 84, 102, 107 DeVos, Rev., 127, 135, 139 D'Herbomez, Bishop. 205 Dielman, Rev. L.. 172 "Divine Pilotage." 86 Donation Land Bill, 113, 130 Douglas. Sir James, 33, 90 Drasa, Bishop of, 98, 131 Eells, Rev., 153 Emigrants, Canadian, 149 Empire City, 182 End of Controversy, 15 Ermatinger, 73 Established Church, 3' Fairfield, 14 Fierens, Rev., 211, 215 "Fifty-four-forty or fight," 45 Flathead Indians. 60, 101 Fort St. James, 101 France, 3, 134 Frazer River, 89 French Prairie, 27, 33, 127, 129, 159 Geneva, 133 Gervais, 33, 37 "Gleanings of Fifty Years," 170 Glorieux, Bishop A., 216 Grande Ronde Reservation, 204 Grant, President, 204 Gray, Wm. (historian), 61, 94 Great Britain, 48, 55 "Great Reinforcement," 11, 112 Greene, Rev. D., 144 Green River. 61, 64 Gregory XVI, 131 Gregorian Chant, 35 Hall, Fort, 73. 81, 116 Harney, General, 103, 104 Hathaway, 112 Hines, Rev., 11 Historical Sketches (quoted), 13, 34, 37 Holman, Frederick V. (quot- ed), 5, 45, 120. 201 Holy Names, Sisters of. 170 Hudson's Bay Company, Arrives in Northwest, 1 Coalition with Northwest Co., 1, 27 Catholic Employes, 34, 69 Monopoly of fur trade, 55 Protection of Canadian Settlers. 92 Treatment of Catholic Clergy, 59, 73". 156 Hughes, James, 191 Hunt, 37 Idaho City, 212 Vicariate, 75, 211 Ignace, 60, -61, 70 Ignatius. Sanctus, 69 Immigrants, 46 234 INDEX Indians. Catholic Missions among, 199 Indian Affairs, Commission- er of, 206 Indian Massacre Averted, 47 Indian Wars, 5, 186 Insula, 61 Ireland, Archbishop, 215 Iroquois Indians. 59, 60, 62, 69 Irving, 69 Jacksonville, 168, 183, 186, 190 Jayol, Rev., 133, 136 Jesuits, 62, 108 Leave Oregon, 130 Ammunition Intercepted, 147 Joint Occupancy, 1, 55, 92, 98 Joseph, Mother. 173 Jogues, Rev.. 59 Jubilee. Golden, 212 Juliopolis, Bishop of, 26 Kalispel Indians, 77 Kansas City, 64 Kitson, 42 Klamath Indians. 180 Knight of St. Gregorv, 16, 120 Kootenai Indians, 83 Le Bas, 134 Lake Henry, 68 Lamfrit. Rev., 156 Lane, General, 178, 180, 185 Langley, Fort, 89 Langlois, Rev., 90, 123 Larocque, Joseph, 123 Las Casas, 222 La Verendrye, 25 Lee. Jason, 9, 10, 11, 61, 88, 111 Lewis, Joe, 141 Lewis, Meriwether, 59 Liquor: McL. refuses to In- dians, 6 London, 29 Long, Dr. John, 136 Lootens, Bishop, 211 Louvain, 219 Lucier, Etienne, 33. 37 Lansome. 11, 44, 112 Lyons, 133 McBean, 101, 137 McCormick, S. J., 216 McLoughlin, Dr. J. Early Life, 2 Arrives in Oregon, 4 Aids Protestant Missionar- ies, 9, 10, 11, 12 Religion, 14, 15, 16. Note, 139 Opens First School in Northwest, 13 Aids American Immi- grants, 44, 54. 55, 56, 119 Aids Willamette Settle- ment, 37 Land Claim at Oregon City, 111. 114 Old Age, 161 Death, 119 Institute. 120, 124 Macedonian Cry. 60 MacDonald, Archibald, 81 Mackin, Rev., 163, 172 Male, Rev., 172 Manitoba Lake, 25 Maria Monk, 43 Marriages Among Savages, 76 Marysville, 175 Marquette, 222 Marshall, T\'. I. (historian' ^ 70, 71. 152 Mass, First in Oregon, 32 First in Vancouver, 33 First in St. Paul, 38 Mengarini. Rev., 74, 187 Mesplie, Rev. T., 134, 16.'?, 201, 206, 212 Methodists, 88, 111 Aid Immigrants, 54 Mission, 12, 115 Aided by McL., 10 Oppose McL.. 53 Mexico, 158 Micmac Indians, 17. 20, 22 Midnight Mass. 15, 36 Milner's "End of Contrn versy," 15 Minto. John. 51 Miramichi Bay. 17 Mississippi. 25 Missouri, 68, 128. 150 Modeste, Brig, 108, 126 Mofras, Duflot de. 128 Montreal, 59, 60. 98 INDEX 235 Mount Hood, 203 Mormon, 102 Munich, 133 Nesmith, J. W., 46 Nesqually, Fort, 15, 41, 81 Nesqually, Diocese of, 18, 158 New Brunswick, 17, 20 New Caledonia, 85, 149 Newfoundland, 150 New Orleans, 74 Nevada, 1 Nez Perces, 60, 70, 75 Northwest Co., 1, 26, 123 North Dakota. 25 Notre Dame Sisters. 131 Arrive in Oregon. 86. 124 Academy in St. Paul, 125 Academy in Oregon City, 125 Close Schools, 130 Oblate Fathers, 137, 157 O'Farrell, John A., 202 Ogden, Peter Skeen, 89, 107, 143 Ogden, Mrs., 90 Okanogan, 32, 81 Oregon Citv. 15, 45, 91, 120, 129, 160, 171 Country, 1, 105 Historical Assn., 48, 69 Legislature, 118 Milling Co., 112 Mission, 25. 31 Question. 95. 107 Pioneer Association, 120 O'Reilly, Rev., 163 Original Oregon Land Fraud. Ill Philadelphia, Diocese of, 74 Plamondon, 36 Plessis, Archbishop, 19, 26 Point, Rev., 74 Politics. 91 Polk, President, 45 Portland Genl. Electric Co.. Ill Portland, 87, 105, 165, 211 Princess Charlotte Island, 132 Prefontaine. Rev., 174 Presbyterian, 11 Propaganda, Congregation of, 132, 161 Protestant Ladder, 41, 201 Protestant Missionaries, 9 Provencher, Bishop, 26, 28, 37 Providence, Sisters of, 169, 173, 217 Provincial Council, 155 Provisional Government, 12, 92, 94 Puget Sound, 44 Purcell, Archbishop, 138 Quebec, 18, 25 Quebec, Archbishop of, 158 Ravalli. Rev.. 75, 101 Red River, 25, 149 Red River. Vicariate, 26, 31 Renilda, Sister, 129 Rockv Mountains Discovered, 25 Rocky Mountain Mission, 73", 76 Rodgers, Lieut., 147 Rogue River, 168, 179 Rome. 132 Russian Possessions. 31 Pacific Fur Co., 1 Palladino, Rev., 62 Pallium Conferred. 221 Pambrun Pierre. 32, 69 Pandosy, Rev.. 209 Paraguav. Missions, 76 Parker, Rev., 9, 61 Paris. 133 Pembina, 26 Pend d'Oreille. Lake, SO Indians, 66. 75 Perry, Mrs., 52 Peru, 126, 162 Saint Amant, 160 Salem, 117, 120. 172. 175, 187 San Francisco, 46 Santiam, 175 Saskatchewan, 25 Scotland. 3 Seattle, 18, 44, 81, 158 Seghers, Archbishop, 218 Selkirk, Earl. 26 Senate Executive Document, 208 Shoshone Indians. 64 Signa>'. Archbishop, 28 236 INDEX Siletz Indian Reservation, 204 Simpson, Gov., 29, 56 Snake Indtians. 64 Snowden (quoted), 81, 99, 153 South America, 76, 161, 190 South Pass, 64 Sovereigns Receive Blanchet, 134 Spalding-, Mrs. H. H., 201 Spalding, Rev. H. H., 10, 70, 142, 149, 153 Spanish Missionaries, 44 Spokane, 83, 174 Staats, Stephen, 53 St. Anne, Sisters of, 157, 169 St. Boniface, 26 Steilacoom, 174 Stevensville, Montana, 74 St. Frances Xavier, Mission, 87 St. Joseph College, 18, 123, 129 St. Lawrence Gulf, 17 St. Louis, Mo., 60, 69 St. I>ouis, Oregon, 136 St. Mary's Academy, 170 St. Mary's Mission, 74 St. Michael's College, 216 St. Paul, 13, 37, 127, 159, 171 Stuart, Fort, 89, 90 St. Vincent's Hospital, 174, 217 Superior, Lake, 25 Tacoma. 174 Temperance Society, 43 Teton's Pass, 66 The Dalles, 47, 49, 157, 173, 201 Thurston, Delegate, 113 Townsend (Naturalist), 43 Tyler, President, 150 Umatilla, 157. 206 Umpqua Valley, 168. 178, 181 Union Pacific Rv., 214 University of St. Louis, 102 Vancouver Island, 218 Vancouver, Fort, 4, 35, 105, 173 Vancouver Island, Diocese of, 155 Vatican Council, 214 Vercruisse, Rev., 135 Vavasour, Lieut., 54, 107 Vermeesch, Rev. T., 172 Veyret, Rev., 133 Victoria. 90, 105, 156 Vienna, 133 Wailatpu, 108, 141 Walla Walla, 32, 137, 143, 158 Waller, Alvin, 12, 112 Wallula, 32 Warm Spring Reservation, 202 Warre, Capt., 54, 107 Wasco Indians, 202 T\^ashington, D. C, 150 Watt, Joseph, 51 Webster, Daniel, 150, 151 ■W'estport, Mo., 64 Wheat Seed, 49 Whidbey Island, 39, 44 White Man's Book of Heav- en, 70, 71 Whitman, Dr.. 61, 108 Arrives in Oregon, 10 Among Cayuse, 32 Massacred, 142 Midwinter Ride, 142 Myth. 148, 208 Whitman, Mrs.. 78 Wilkes, Commodore, 44, 94, 97 Willamette, 4 Wyeth. Nathaniel, 6. 7, 9, 69, 73 Yakima Indians, 103, 206 Yankee, 109 Yerba Buena (San Fran- cisco), 46 Young, Ewing, 93 One copy del. to Cat. Div. OCT s I9f| LIBRARY OF CONGRESS III II I I II III I 017 187 329