PREFACE
The contents of the present volume, from the pen of the celebrated Missionary of the Rocky Mountains, will be found, by the reader, to be fraught with extraordinary interest. The manners and customs of the North American Indians—their traditions, their superstitions, their docility in admitting the maxims of the gospel, and the edifying lives of thousands who have received the grace of baptism and instruction, are described with a freshness of coloring, and an exactness of detail, that will render them invaluable not only to our own times, but, especially, to posterity. He travels through those vast and unexplored deserts, not merely as a missionary, filled with the zeal which characterized the apostles of the primitive Society to which he belongs, but with the eye of a poet, and an imagination glowing with a bright yet calm enthusiasm. Hence the exquisite descriptions of scenery, of incidents, of events; descriptions which breathe the spirit of a mind imbued with the loftiest conceptions of nature, and chastened with the sacred influences of faith.
{xii} The reverend author having, before his recent departure for his native land, left the supervision of this work to my care, I feel bound, in justice to his modesty, to state, that the Introduction, taken from the Catholic Almanac, is not from his pen: and he is not, therefore, accountable for the epithets of praise (so eminently deserved, and yet so repugnant to his humility), which, through it, are occasionally coupled with his name.
The lithographic sketches that accompany this Volume, are copied from the original drawings of the Reverend Father Point, S. J.;[114] drawings of such exquisite perfection, that they would do honor to any master: and the more admirable, from the circumstance of their having been executed with the pen, in the midst of the privations and difficulties of his remote and arduous missions.
In conclusion, I cannot but express the pleasure, instruction, and edification, I have derived from the careful perusal of these beautiful letters: and I feel convinced that they will prove, to all who read them, a source of interest and delight which few volumes of the same dimensions can open to the intellectual and Christian reader.
C. C. P.
New-York, August 1st, 1847.
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OREGON Territory, 1846.
OREGON MISSIONS
AN OUTLINE SKETCH OF OREGON TERRITORY AND ITS MISSIONS
The political discussion, which has been going on for years between the British government and that of the United States, in regard to the boundary which defines their respective portions of the Oregon territory, has turned upon this distant region a large share of public attention, and has won for it an interest which will increase in proportion to the advances of civilization and commerce within its borders. But it becomes an object of much deeper interest in the eyes of the philanthropist and Christian, when we look to the efforts which have been made, and which are still continued, in order to diffuse the blessings of religious truth among {14} its benighted inhabitants. To the Catholic, especially, does this remote country present the most pleasing scenes for contemplation, and by this reason we have been induced to lay before the reader, a brief account of its discovery and settlement, and of the missions undertaken for the spiritual welfare of its inhabitants.
Oregon territory is that important part of North America which extends from the 42d to the 50th degree of N. latitude, and from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.[115] It is bounded on the north by the Russian possessions, and on the south by California; forming a kind of parallelogram, about seven hundred and fifty miles in length and five hundred in breadth, and containing 375,000 square miles.
There appears no reason to doubt of the Spaniards having been the first to visit this country.[116] The documents we possess, and the tradition of the natives, concur to render this opinion incontestible. According to them a vessel made its appearance south of the Columbia river before 1792, and there is still living among them a woman whose father was one of the crew attached to the vessel, and whose mother belonged to the tribe of the Kilamukes.[117] When we add to this that crucifixes have been {15} found in their hands transmitted to them from their ancestors, that the island of Vancouver still exhibits the ruins of colonial habitations, that the strait which separates it from the mainland bears the name of Juan Fuca, and that the country itself is contiguous to California, where the Spanish missionaries had penetrated nearly two hundred years before, we cannot but look upon the Spaniards as the discoverers of Oregon.
After the voyage of Captain Cook in 1790, by which it was ascertained that the sea along the N. W. coast of America abounded in otters, this region was visited by vessels from almost every part of the world. The people of the United States were not behind others in enterprise; in 1792, Captain Gray sailed up an unknown river of that country, to the distance of eighteen miles, and the stream has since retained the name of Columbia, from the ship which he commanded. In leaving the river, Captain Gray passed the vessel of Captain Vancouver, who also navigated the Columbia river about one hundred miles, to the point which bears his name. In 1793 the country was visited by Sir Alexander McKenzie, after discovering the river which retains his name.[118] In 1804, Messrs. {16} Lewis and Clark were commissioned by the United States to explore the sources of the Columbia, and they descended the river as far as Gray’s Bay. A few years after, in 1810, Mr. Astor fitted out two expeditions to Oregon, for the purpose of securing the interest of the fur-trade in those parts. The party that had embarked by water arrived first, and erected a fort called Astoria, about nine miles from the mouth of the Columbia.[119] The company of the North-West (English) also considered the fur-trade of Oregon as well worthy of attention, and they immediately despatched an agent by land for the purpose of securing it; but he arrived at Astoria several months after the first expeditions from the United States.
During the war of 1812, a British vessel sailed to the Columbia, in order to take possession of Astoria and its treasure; but the captain was cruelly disappointed in discovering that the place was already held by an agent of the North-West Company, who had purchased it in anticipation of the future war with the United States.[120] The Canadians who had settled there under its original owners, were employed by the new proprietors, and their numbers increased in proportion as the Company extended its {17} operations. In this way the country was visited in every direction, and many of the Indian tribes heard from them of the Catholic religion and the worship of the true God. In 1821, the North-West and Hudson Bay Companies united their interests, and gave a new impulse to the fur-trade. Mr. John McLaughlin, who went to Oregon in 1824, was chiefly instrumental in promoting the prosperity of the country.[121] He added to the business posts, and gave employment to a greater number of Canadians and Iroquois. They commenced at the same time the cultivation of wheat. One of the settlers having undertaken, in 1829, to till the soil in the valley of Willamette, his example was soon followed by others, and the colony became so numerous that in 1834 an application was made to Dr. Provencher, Vicar Apostolic of Hudson Bay, to procure a clergyman for the service of the people.[122] The colonists, however, did not succeed in obtaining a favorable answer to their petition, until the following year, when two clergymen were appointed for the mission; but, owing to the arrival of a Methodist preacher and of an Episcopalian minister in Oregon, the former in 1834, and the latter in 1837,[123] the departure of the Catholic clergymen was considerably {18} delayed. Rev. Mr. Demers went as far as the Red River in 1837, and arrangements having been made for himself and fellow-laborer to pass into Oregon the following year, Rev. F. N. Blanchet left Canada at the appointed time, and joined his companion at Red River, whence they both started on the 10th of July, and after a perilous journey of between four and five thousand miles, and the loss of twelve of their fellow-travellers in the rapids of Columbia River, they arrived at Fort Vancouver, the 24th of November, of the same year.[124] On their route the two missionaries were treated with the utmost courtesy by the traders whom they met, and at Vancouver they were received with every demonstration of respect by James Douglas, Esq., who commanded that post during the absence of Mr. McLaughlin in England.[125] On seeing the missionaries at length among them, the Canadians wept for joy, and the savages assembled from a distance of one hundred miles, to behold the black gowns of whom so much had been said.
Before we follow the ministers of God in their apostolic labors, we shall allude as briefly as possible to the aspect of the country, to the difficulties and dangers it presents to the missionary, {19} and to its commercial and agricultural resources.
We shall observe, in the first place, that the Columbia River stretches from its mouth about 290 miles to the east, as far as Fort Walla Walla; it then takes a northerly direction 150 miles, to Fort Okanagan; thence it extends 170 miles easterly to Colville. Fort Vancouver, the principal post in Oregon, is situated in 45° 36′ N. latitude, about one hundred miles from the mouth of the Columbia, and on its western bank, in ascending the river. The Willamette is a tributary of the Columbia, falling into it four miles below Vancouver on the opposite side. Twenty miles up the stream is a cascade of about twenty-five feet, and thirty miles further is a Canadian establishment, which in 1838 numbered twenty-six Catholic families, besides the settlers from the United States. The residence of the Methodist minister was ten miles higher up.[126] The River Cowlitz falls into the Columbia thirty miles below Vancouver, on the same side. Forty-five miles from its mouth is seen the establishment which bears its name. Four Catholic families resided here on the arrival of the missionaries. From this place to {20} Nesqualy at the southern extremity of Puget Sound, the distance is nearly seventy miles, and it is equally far from the latter point to the island of Whitby.[127] Two days’ journey further north will bring you to the River Frazer, on which Fort Langley is situated.[128] This river falls into Puget Sound or the Gulf of Georgia.
The mission of St. Mary’s among the Flatheads is ten days’ journey from Colville, towards the south-east, and about five hundred miles from Vancouver.[129] The most distant to which Mr. Demers has penetrated as yet, is Bear Lake in New Caledonia,[130] seven hundred miles from Vancouver. The reader may form some idea of the almost insurmountable difficulties to be encountered by our two missionaries, in visiting their various posts, so widely distant from each other, especially in a country overrun in every direction by lofty mountains. These mountains generally extend from north to south. From the Valley of Willamette are seen three elevated peaks, which have the form of a cone, and are covered with perpetual snow; hence called Snowy Mountains. One of them Mt. St. Helena, stands opposite Cowlitz to the east, and for some years past has been noted for its volcanic {21} eruptions.[131] Besides the rivers we have mentioned, there are several others, the principal of which are the Clamet, Umpqua, and the Chikeeles.[132] The Columbia is navigable as far as the cascade, fifty-four miles above Vancouver.
The immense valleys in Oregon Territory, covered with extensive and fertile prairies, follow the course of the mountains from north to south, and are crossed in different directions by rivulets bordered with trees. They easily yield to the plough, and though the first crop is not very abundant, the second is generally sufficient to repay the labor of tillage. The soil is for the most part fertile, particularly in the south. Every kind of grain is successfully cultivated near Cowlitz, Vancouver, in the Willamette Valley, and further south. The same may be said of the neighborhood of Fort Walla Walla, Colville; the mission of St. Mary’s; the mission of the Sacred Heart, of St. Ignatius, and St. Francis Borgia, among the Pend-d’oreilles; of St. Francis Regis, in the valley to Colville; of the Assumption and the Holy Heart of Mary, {22} amongst the Skalsi. Other districts that are not tillable, afford an excellent pasture for cattle.
As to the climate of Oregon, it is not so severe as might be supposed from its elevated latitude. The snow never falls to a greater depth than three or four inches in the lower portions of the territory, and seldom remains long on the ground. When the snows, after having accumulated on the mountains and their vicinity in consequence of extreme cold, begin to melt, and the heavy rains supervene, the plains around are covered with water, and sometimes considerable damage is caused by the inundation. The rains commence in October, and continue until March with little interruption. The very cold weather lasts only for a few weeks. In the month of June the Columbia always overflows its banks, from the thaw which takes place on the mountains, and every four or five years its waters rise to an extraordinary height, and do much injury in the vicinity of Vancouver.
Until the year 1830, the Territory of Oregon was thickly settled by numerous tribes of Indians; but at that period the country bordering on the Columbia was visited by a fatal scourge which carried off nearly two-thirds of {23} the inhabitants.[133] It showed itself in the form of an infectious fever, which threw the individual into a state of tremor, and produced such a burning heat throughout the body, that the patient would sometimes cast himself into the water to obtain relief. The population of entire villages was cut off by this terrible pestilence. Other villages were burnt in order to arrest the infection which would have arisen from the pile of dead bodies that were left unburied. During this fearful visitation, which attacked the colonists as well as the natives, Dr. McLaughlin displayed the most heroic philanthropy, in his laborious attention to the sick and dying. The Indians superstitiously attributed this scourge to a quarrel between some agents of the Hudson Bay Company and an American captain, which led the latter to throw a species of charm into the river by way of revenge. The fever, however, made its appearance annually, though in a less malignant form; and the inhabitants have discovered both its preventive and its remedy. The smallpox is the principal disease that alarms the natives; they are in continual dread of it, and imagining that they have a short time to live, they no longer build the large and convenient cabins to {24} which they were formerly accustomed. Notwithstanding the ravages above mentioned, the population of Oregon amounts to nearly 110,000 souls, residing chiefly in the north. This part of the country, fortunately, escaped the diseases which decimated the inhabitants of Willamette and the Columbia, and still rages from time to time in the south.
The tribes of this territory differ much in character and personal appearance. The savages who frequent the coast, especially towards the north, are of a much more barbarous and ferocious temperament than those of the interior; nor are they less dissimilar in their manners, customs, language, and external features. The tribes and languages are almost as numerous as the localities. From twenty-five to thirty different idioms have been distinguished among them, a circumstance which increases in no small degree the labors of the missionary. In the interior of the country, the natives are of a mild and sociable disposition, though proud and vindictive; intelligent though inclined to indolence. Their belief in the immortality of the soul consists in admitting a future existence, happy or unhappy, that is, a state of plenty or want, according to the merits or demerits of {25} every individual. The morals of this savage race can scarcely be termed corrupt, considering their very limited means of “enlightenment.” They have distinct ideas of right and wrong, and recognize many leading principles of the natural law. Theft, adultery, homicide, and lying, are condemned as criminal, and if polygamy is tolerated, it is not approved; it is principally confined to the chiefs, by way of maintaining peace with the neighboring nations. Laxity of morals is far short of what might be supposed inevitable, in their rude and uneducated state. Modesty, indeed, would require more; but its rules are for the most part respected. But little intercourse is carried on among young persons of different sex, and even in regard to matrimonial unions, the engagement is arranged by the parents of the parties. When a man of comfortable means takes to himself a wife, he is obliged to compensate the parents of the latter by considerable presents. But upon the death of the woman, these presents may be reclaimed. If in consequence of harsh treatment she puts an end to her existence, the circumstance reflects disgrace upon the husband, who is compelled, in this case, to propitiate her parents by additional gifts.
{26} Most of the work among these savages is performed by slaves, who are well treated, except in case of old age or other inability, when they are left to perish of want. Besides those who are born in this unhappy state, there are others who become so, by the fortunes of war. All prisoners are considered slaves by their conquerors, though, in general, only their children experience this hard lot. Wars are sometimes engaged in for the express purpose of acquiring slaves, which is considered a great advantage among the savages. The white population have little to fear from their attacks, except on the northern coast, where life is far from being safe, and where the natives, in some cases anthropophagi, do not hesitate to feast upon the flesh of their prisoners.
Throughout the whole country, the habitations of the Indians are rather huts than houses, from fifteen to twenty-five feet long, proportionably wide, and verging into a conical form. Cross pieces of wood are suspended in the interior for the purpose of drying their salmon and other articles of food. Fire is kindled on the ground in the centre of the cabin, the smoke escaping through the roof above. The dress of the Indians is not more recherché than their {27} dwellings. Formerly they clothed themselves very comfortably and neatly, with the furs which they possessed, but since the trade in skins has become so extensive, the natives of Oregon are much worse provided for in this respect, and the poor can scarcely protect themselves against the severity of the seasons. To this circumstance, in part, is attributed the decrease of the population, which has been observed within a few years past. Hunting and fishing are the resources on which the Indian depends for subsistence. His principal food is salmon, sturgeon, and other kinds of fish, with the ducks, wild turkeys and hares, in which the country abounds. The fruits of spontaneous growth, and particularly the root of the cammas, also afford them nourishment.[134]
Among the aborigines of Oregon there is no trace of any religious worship. They have a belief which consists in certain obscure traditions;[135] but no external forms of religion are visible among them. The juggler exercises his {28} profession, though it is almost universally done in behalf of the sick, for the purpose of curing them. If he fail in his attempt, he is suspected of having used some evil influence, and is made to pay the forfeit of his supposed offence. Though nearly all these tribes, of whom we are speaking, possess no particular form of worship, they are naturally predisposed in favor of the Christian religion, especially those who live in the interior. We shall find the most ample evidence of this in the sequel of our narrative.
At the period when the two Catholic missionaries arrived in Oregon territory, the Hudson Bay Company possessed from ten to twelve establishments for the fur-trade, in each of which there was a certain number of Canadians professing our holy faith, and in addition to these there were twenty-six Catholic families at Willamette, and four at Cowlitz. It is easy to imagine to how many dangers they had been exposed of losing their faith, deprived as they were of religious instruction and of every external incentive to the practice of piety, and surrounded by individuals who were not inactive in their efforts to withdraw them from the fold of Catholicity.
The Methodist missionaries had already formed {29} two establishments, one in the Willamette, where they had a school, and another about fifty miles from the cascade. An Anglican minister, who resided at Vancouver two years, left it before the arrival of the Catholic clergy. The Presbyterians had a missionary post at Walla Walla, and among the Nez-percés, and in 1839 they established a third station on the river Spokane, a few days’ journey south of Colville.[136] In 1840, the Rev. Mr. Lee brought with him fellow-laborers for the vineyard, with their wives and children, and a number of husbandmen and mechanics. It was a real colony. The preachers stationed themselves at the most important posts, as at Willamette Falls, the Clatsops below fort George, and Nisqualy, and thence visited the other settlements: they even penetrated as far as Whitby.[137] Nothing short of the most arduous toil and constant vigilance on the part of the Catholic clergymen, could have withdrawn so many individuals from the danger of spiritual seduction. Our two missionaries were indefatigable in their exertions, almost always journeying from one post to another, to begin or to consolidate the good work they had in view.
{30} Vancouver was the first place that experienced the happy influence of their apostolical zeal. Many of the settlers had lost sight of the religious principles they had imbibed in their youth, and their wives were either pagans in belief, or, if baptized, but superficially acquainted with the nature of that holy rite. In this state of things, which had given rise to many disorders, the missionaries found it necessary to spend several months at Vancouver, and to labor with united energies in instructing the people, baptizing children, performing marriages, and inspiring a greater respect for the Christian virtues. With this view they remained at Vancouver until the month of January, 1839, when Mr. Blanchet visited the Canadians at Willamette. It would be difficult to describe the joy which his arrival awakened among them. They had already erected a chapel seventy feet in length, which was dedicated by the missionary under the invocation of St. Paul. His ministry at this place was attended with the most signal success. Men, women and children, all seemed to appreciate the presence of one who had come, as a messenger from Heaven, to diffuse among them the {31} consolations of religion. Before his departure, Mr. Blanchet rehabilitated a good number of marriages, and baptized seventy-four persons. In April he started for Cowlitz, where he remained until the latter end of June. Here also his efforts were most successful. He had the happiness of instructing twelve savages of Puget sound, who had come from a distance of nearly one hundred miles in order to see and hear him. It was on this occasion he conceived the idea of the Catholic ladder, a form of instruction which represents on paper the various truths and mysteries of religion in their chronological order, and which has proved vastly beneficial in imparting catechetical instruction among the natives of Oregon.[138] These twelve Indians having remained at Cowlitz long enough to acquire a knowledge of the principal mysteries of our faith, and to understand the use of the ladder which Mr. Blanchet gave them, set about instructing their tribe as soon as they returned home, and not without considerable success; for Mr. Blanchet, the following year, met, in the vicinity of Whitby island, with several Indians who had never seen a priest, and yet were acquainted with the sign of the cross, and knew several pious canticles.
{32} While Mr. Blanchet was at Cowlitz,[139] his fellow-laborer visited Nisqualy, where he found the savages in the best dispositions. Having but a short time, however, to pass among them, he merely laid the foundation of a more important mission, and returned to Vancouver by the month of June,—the time when the agents from New Caledonia, Upper Columbia, and other different posts assemble there to deposite their furs. After spending a month at Vancouver, availing himself of the favorable opportunity for instruction which the concourse of visitors afforded, he set out for Upper Columbia, where he visited Walla Walla, Okanagan and Colville,[140] baptizing all the children that were brought to him in the course of his journey. He spent three months in this excursion, during which Mr. Blanchet attended to the wants of the faithful at Vancouver, Willamette, and {33} Cowlitz. Though these stations afforded ample occupation for a missionary, Mr. B. paid another visit to Nisqualy, where he was again met by a considerable number of savages from Puget sound, who hastened to Nisqualy as soon as they heard of his arrival, and listened with joy and profit to the words of life.
In October the two missionaries met at Vancouver, which was their place of residence through the courtesy of James Douglas, Esq., and on the 10th of the same month they again separated, Mr. Blanchet starting for Willamette, and Mr. Demers for Cowlitz. Their object was to spend the winter months at these points in the further instruction of their flocks. During the first year they baptized three hundred and nine persons. The following spring Mr. Demers visited the Chinouks, a tribe living below fort George.[141] From the Chinouks he repaired to Vancouver, to meet the concourse of traders who assemble there in the month of June, after which he set out for his stations at Walla Walla, Okanagan and Colville, as he had done the preceding year. About this time Father De Smet, S. J., was sent on a visit by his superior to the Flathead Indians, who had implored this favor by repeated deputations from their country to {34} the bishop of St. Louis. He found, to his great surprise, that Oregon already possessed two Catholic missionaries; he wrote to Mr. Demers, informing him that he would return to St. Louis, according to the order of his superiors, to procure further aid for the promising missions of the Rocky Mountains.
Mr. Blanchet having visited the people at Nisqualy, was soon called away by a special embassy from the Indians of Puget sound, who requested his ministry. It was on this occasion at Whitby that he met with the savages already acquainted with certain practices of the Catholic church, though they had never seen a missionary.[142] His labors among the Indians at this place were most consoling. A large cross was erected as a rallying-point, many children were {35} baptized, and two tribes, who were at war with each other, were reconciled. The Catholic ladder was passed from one nation to another, and all prayed to be instructed still more fully in the truths of salvation. After baptizing one hundred and four persons, the missionaries returned to Vancouver, and thence repaired to their respective stations during the winter season. A wide field was here opened to their zeal, not only among the catechumens who solicited baptism, but among the settlers, who were anxious to repair by their fervor the neglect of former years. In the summer of 1840 the Columbia was visited by Captain Belcher, from England, for the purpose of surveying the river.[143]
In the spring of 1841, Mr. Demers, after giving the usual mission at Vancouver, went to Nisqualy, and with the aid of Indian guides penetrated as far as Fort Langley on the river Fraser. Here he was surrounded by an immense number of savages, to whom he announced without delay the tidings of salvation. His appeal was not in vain, all permitting their children to be baptized, and soliciting the residence of a priest among them. Seven hundred children received, on this occasion, the sacrament {36} of regeneration. While Mr. Demers was thus occupied in gathering the first fruits of the mission at Puget sound, Mr. Blanchet was equally engaged at Willamette, Vancouver, Cowlitz and the Cascades. At the last mentioned place several children were baptized, and a number of adults instructed in the faith.
During the year 1841, Oregon Territory was visited by two expeditions, one from England under Sir George Simpson,[144] and the other from the U. States, under the command of Captain Wilkes.[145]
{37} Faithful to his word, Father De Smet returned among the Flatheads in the autumn of the same year, accompanied by the Rev. Fathers Point and Mengarini, and three lay brothers.[146] The mission of St. Mary’s was at once established, and the most abundant harvest collected, (see Indian sketches).[147] About the same time Messrs. Blanchet and Demers retired to their usual winter stations, where they had the pleasure of learning that two other missionaries, Messrs. John B. Bolduc and Ant. Langlois had {38} set out from Canada to join them in their labor of love.[148] During the winter, Mr. Blanchet narrowly escaped a watery grave, in ascending the river Willamette on a visit to his friend Mr. Demers. In the spring of 1842, Father De Smet unexpectedly made his appearance at Vancouver, after a providential escape from shipwreck, in descending the river Columbia. Fortunately he had left the barge in which his fellow-travellers and his baggage were; and by this means he was saved, while his effects and five of his companions were swallowed up in the rapids.[149]
The three missionaries met together, first at Willamette, and then at Vancouver, and formed their plans for a concert of action in the great work of evangelizing the natives of Oregon. The Indians of New Caledonia had repeatedly asked for Catholic missionaries, and Mr. Demers started for that country. Having embarked in a boat of the Hudson Bay Company, he reached his destination after a travel of two months. The journey, though fatiguing, was most consoling in its results. He was received by the savages with open arms, and it is impossible to describe the ardor with which they drank in the words of heavenly life as they fell from his {39} lips. The Indians in this region appear to be no less predisposed to receive the truths of Christianity than the Flatheads, who have evinced a peculiar propensity to virtue.
While Mr. Demers was so successfully occupied among the tribes of New Caledonia, Father De Smet was bending his steps back to St. Louis, to procure additional laborers for the mission. Two clergymen, the Rev. Fathers De Vos and Hoeken,[150] with three lay brothers, were immediately sent out, but they did not reach their destination until the autumn of 1843. Mr. De Smet was at the same time despatched to Europe, to make further provision for the conversion and civilization of Oregon. In this way Mr. Blanchet found himself charged with the care of all the stations, except those among the Flatheads, and upper Indians of the Columbia, and was continually moving about to meet the wants of the various missions. Fortunately Messrs. Langlois and Bolduc, after a journey of one year since their departure from Canada, arrived at Willamette on the 16th of September. They at once set themselves to work, Mr. Langlois remaining at Willamette during the winter season, while Mr. Blanchet was at Vancouver, {40} and Mr. Bolduc at Cowlitz. In the spring of 1843, Mr. Demers returned from New Caledonia, much exhausted by the labors he had undergone, and the privations he had suffered during his journey; but these causes were not capable of diminishing his missionary ardor. His fellow-laborers and himself found ample occupation, during the summer months, at the three principal stations, and in fact such was the call upon their services at these posts, and in the vicinity, in consequence of the increasing numbers of their flock, that they were unable to visit the more distant points, and were obliged to defer to a later period the execution of their design, for some time contemplated, of forming a mission at Whitby.
In addition to his numerous cares, Mr. Blanchet undertook the erection of an academy at Willamette, for which funds had been given by a Mr. Joseph Laroque of Paris, and which is called St. Joseph’s College, in honor of that gentleman.
A teacher of French, and another of the English language, were employed in the institution, which was opened in the month of October, and numbered from the very commencement {41} twenty-eight boarders. Rev. Mr. Langlois, who attended to the Willamette mission, also superintended the Academy.
About a year after, a public examination of the students was held, and the inhabitants who attended, appeared much gratified at the progress made by the pupils in the study of French and English, in writing, arithmetic, and other branches.
In the spring of 1844, Mr. Blanchet withdrew Mr. Demers from Cowlitz and placed him at the Falls or Oregon City, an important post, which contained already sixty houses. The parsonage where Mr. Demers resided could not be rented at less than ten dollars a month. Mr. Bolduc remained at Cowlitz, and Mr. Blanchet went from one station to another, to ascertain and provide for the wants of the different localities.
During the vacation of the college Mr. Blanchet remained at Willamette, to replace Mr. Langlois, who had set out upon a visit to the Jesuit fathers, among the Flatheads, with a view to obtain some assistance for his school. Mr. Demers was at this time at Vancouver. The missionaries, not aware of Mr. De Smet’s voyage to Europe, had been long and anxiously awaiting his arrival in Oregon. About fifteen {42} months had elapsed since his departure for the east, and the vessel of the Hudson Bay Company, which had reached Oregon in the spring, brought no intelligence respecting his movements. Under these circumstances, Mr. Blanchet and his companions began to be alarmed, when, in the midst of their apprehensions, the indefatigable Jesuit made his appearance suddenly at Vancouver, about the beginning of August. On the 9th of January, he had left Belgium, with four priests, Rev. Fathers Accolti, Nobili, Ravalli, and Vercruysse and Huybrechts a lay brother,[151] and six religious ladies of Notre Dame of Namur, and after doubling Cape Horn the vessel touched at Valparaiso and Lima, for the purpose of obtaining some information regarding the entrance of the Columbia River and to leave a part of a cargo.[152] Not having received a satisfactory answer to their inquiries, they set out again for the north, and continued their course until they found themselves in latitude 46° 19′, and longitude 123° 54′. Here the captain passed three days in discovering the mouth of the river, which was at length made known to him by the sight of a vessel going out. Though it was growing dark, he immediately despatched an officer towards the sail to make inquiries concerning {43} the mode of entering the Columbia; but he did not return with the required information, and the captain, being thrown upon his own resources, at once made preparations for entering the river, and proceeded from east to west through a channel altogether unknown to him. It was the 31st of July, feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola. As he advanced, by the soundings, he found that the vessel was in very shallow water, having only two and a half feet under her keel, although at a considerable distance from the mainland. At this moment, the safety of the vessel and crew seemed hopeless; but while shipwreck was staring them in the face, they fell unexpectedly into deeper soundings; the bar was crossed, and two hours after, the vessel anchored off Fort George or Astoria.[153] {44} Mr. Blanchet and the people of Willamette no sooner heard of Mr. De Smet’s arrival at Vancouver than they hastened to meet him. The good father and the colony that accompanied him, were received with every demonstration of civility by Dr. McLaughlin and Mr. Douglas, who also tendered one of the company’s boats to convey the missionary band to Willamette. Their journey to this place was a real triumph, such was the joy and excitement produced among the inhabitants by the accession of these new laborers to the vineyard. The sisters [of] Notre Dame soon occupied the building which had been undertaken for their purposes, and in the month of December it was opened as a boarding academy for girls. Father De Smet, about the same time, directed his course towards the Flatheads, Father Devos having come to supply his place in the south. The labors of the Jesuits among the tribes of the north have been crowned with the most abundant success. In 1842, a new mission, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, was founded about eight days’ journey south of St. Mary’s.[154] In addition to the increased resources {45} which the mission received in 1844, we must mention also the arrival of two other Jesuit Fathers and one lay brother, who went to Oregon, by the way of the Rocky Mountains.[155]
Such was the state of the country, and such the progress of religion among the natives and colonists, when Mr. Blanchet received letters from Canada in November last, informing him that, upon the application of the Fifth Provincial Council of Baltimore, he had been appointed Vicar Apostolic of Oregon Territory, and that bulls to that effect, dated the 1st December, 1843, had been despatched to him. He was immediately solicited by his fellow-laborers to accept the charge, and at first determined to go to California for the ceremony of consecration. But desirous of obtaining a further reinforcement for his extensive mission, he concluded to visit Europe. Having appointed Rev. Mr. Demers his Vicar General and administrator of the Vicariate during his absence, he left Vancouver towards the end of November, arrived on the 22d of May at London, and thence embarking for this country the 4th of June, in the Cunard line of steamers, he reached Canada on the 24th of the same month, after a journey of more than 22,000 miles. Mr. Blanchet recently received {46} the episcopal consecration in Montreal, and has gone to Europe on business connected with his mission. Six thousand savages brought within the fold of the Christian church, form, indeed, but a small number among the 100,000 who inhabit that immense region; but this success, achieved in a few years, by a missionary force so limited, and compelled to grapple with so many difficulties, is a bright and consoling evidence of what can and will be accomplished by those who have been commissioned to “go and teach all nations.”
On the 1st of December, 1843, his Holiness, Gregory XVI, erected Oregon Territory into an Apostolic Vicariate, and the Rev. Francis N. Blanchet, was appointed to the episcopal charge of this extensive mission. His consecration took place in Montreal, C. E., about the middle of the year 1844. He immediately repaired to Europe, with a view to increase the resources of his mission, and to devise means for promoting the interests of religion in Oregon. At his request, and by a recent act of the Holy See, the Territory of Oregon, from the 42d to the 54th degree of N. latitude, has been divided into eight diocesses, viz: Oregon City, Nesqualy, Vancouver’s Island, and Princess Charlotte, {47} on the coast, and Walla Walla, Fort Hall, Colville, and New Caledonia, in the interior. These diocesses form an ecclesiastical province, of which Oregon City is the Metropolitan See. For the present, only three bishops are appointed for the province, viz: those of Oregon City, Walla Walla, and Vancouver’s Island, who will have a provisional jurisdiction over the other diocesses. The episcopal districts of Vancouver’s Island, Princess Charlotte, and New Caledonia, are not included within the territory belonging to the United States. The Rt. Rev. Modest Demers, one of the missionaries that visited Oregon in 1838, has been charged with the See of Vancouver’s Island, and the administration of the two other districts in the British portion of the territory. The region within the limits of the United States embraces the five other diocesses above-mentioned.