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.