[181] Addressed to Bishop (later Archbishop) John Hughes of New York. From the time of the descriptive letter number ii, written from Willamette valley October 9, 1844, to the beginning of this letter in February, 1845, Father de Smet had made a journey to his previously-founded missions in the interior. Leaving Vancouver, he ascended the river to Fort Walla Walla, thence crossed Spokane plains and the mountains to the camp of the Pend d’Oreille on Clark’s Fork, where he met Father Adrian Hoeken. There a deputation from the Cœur d’Alènes waited on the father to persuade him to visit their mission of Sacred Heart, where he was received November 11 by Father Nicolas Point. Setting forth thence, eight days later he found the road to the Flatheads impracticable because of floods and ice, so that he was obliged to pass the winter (1844-45) with the Pend d’Oreille in their winter quarters on Clark’s Fork.—Ed.
[182] For the location of Horse Plain see De Smet’s Letters in our volume xxvii, p. 337, note 172. The location of the Bay of the Pend d’Oreille (Kalispels) is given post, note 73.—Ed.
[183] For these tribes and the former visit of De Smet, see his Letters in our volume xxvii, especially p. 141, note 8.—Ed.
[184] This stream, now known as St. Regis Borgia, is a tributary of the Missoula from the west. Rising in Bitterroot Mountains it flows slightly south of east through a fertile valley, which forms the present route of the Northern Pacific Railway. See De Smet’s Letters, in our volume xxvii, p. 362, note 183.—Ed.
[185] Stiettiedloodsho was surnamed “Bravest of the Brave;” for an account of his fight with the Crows, see post, letter xxiii. His baptismal name was Moses, and he was an adopted brother of Father de Smet, who relates several anecdotes of his piety; see Chittenden and Richardson, De Smet, iv, pp. 1225, 1226. He was known to be living in 1857. Possibly Selpisto was the great chief baptized in 1840 as Peter. For Chalax see our volume xxvii, p. 284, note 148.—Ed.
[186] The site of the first mission of St. Ignatius, called by De Smet the Bay of the Kalispels, was on the east bank of Clark’s Fork, in latitude about 48° 20′ north, longitude 117° 10′ west, in the present Stevens County, Washington, not far from the town of Usk. The mission was maintained at this point until 1854, when, the spot proving unsuitable from frequent overflows, a site was chosen in western Montana on the present Flathead Reservation, whence the mission was transferred and where it has since been maintained. See L. B. Palladino, Indian and White in the Northwest, pp. 68-79.—Ed.
[187] Manresa is a town in the northeastern part of Spain, where Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order, spent a year dwelling in a cave, and subjecting himself to severe austerities. It is now a place of pilgrimage for the pious followers of the saint.—Ed.
[188] Champoeg—an Indian name, signifying a kind of edible root—was an Indian camping and council ground, lying on the borders of Kalapuya territory. Among the earliest settlements in the Willamette valley were those made near this place.—Ed.
[189] Oregon City was laid out in lots (1843) by Dr. John McLoughlin, who had taken up the site as early as 1829 and by 1837 had made improvements there. The Methodist mission had built a store and a mill on the same site and later there was a prolonged dispute over the title. Meanwhile Oregon City (or Willamette Falls) grew, and was made the seat of the provisional government (1845-49). McLoughlin gave the site for the building of the church here mentioned, which was dedicated February 8, 1846.—Ed.
[190] The Kamloop and Atnah are Shushwap (Shoowhapamooh) clans of the great Salishan stock of Indians, inhabiting the region between the Rocky Mountains and Fraser River, north of the British American boundary line. The Kamloop lived in the Thompson River district, near a fort of that name (see Ross’s Oregon Settlers in our volume vii, p. 199, note 64). For the term “Atnah” see our volume vii, p. 159, note 52.