I have the honor to be, with the most profound respect and esteem, Monseigneur, your most humble and obedient servant in Jesus Christ.
P. J. De Smet, S. J.
No. V
A. M. D. G.
Kalispel Bay, Aug. 7th, 1845.
Monseigneur,—A few days after the departure of Father Nobili, who obtained a place in a barge belonging to the Hon. Hudson Bay Co., I started from St. Francis Xavier’s with eleven horses laden with ploughs, spades, pickaxes, scythes, and carpenters’ implements. My companions were the good Brother McGill,[192] and two metis or mongrels. We encountered many obstacles and difficulties among the mountains, owing to the cascades formed by the water, which, at this season, descends on every side in torrents, and with irresistible fury upon the rocks, over which we were compelled to cross. In the narrow valleys between these mountains, the rhododendron displays all its strength and beauty; it rises to the height of fifteen or twenty feet. Entire groves are formed by thousands of these shrubs, whose clustering branches entwine themselves in beautiful green {103} arches, adorned with innumerable bouquets of splendid flowers, varying their hues from the pure white, to the deepened tint of the crimsoned rose.
Our path was strewed with the whitened bones of horses and oxen, melancholy testimonies of the miseries endured by other travellers through these regions. We passed the foot of Mt. Hood, the most elevated of this stupendous chain. It is covered with snow, and rises 16,000 feet above the level of the sea.[193] Capt. Wyeth, on beholding this ridge from the summit of the Blue Mountains, thus speaks of it in his journal:—“The traveller on advancing westerly, even at the distance of 160 miles, beholds the peaks of the Cascade Mountains. Several of them rise 16,000 feet above the level of the sea. Every other natural wonder seems to dwindle, as it were, into insignificance when compared to this.”[194] From one single spot I contemplated seven of these majestic summits extending from north to south, whose dazzling white and conic form resemble a sugar loaf.
We were twenty days going from Willamette to Walla Walla, across desert and undulating lands, abounding in absinthium or wormwood, cactus, tufted grass, and several species of such {104} plants and herbs as are chiefly found in a sterile and sandy soil.
Game is scarce in these latitudes; however, we found large partridges and pheasants, aquatic fowls, small birds of various kinds, hares and rabbits. Salamanders swarm in sandy places, and armadilloes are not rare in the vicinity of the great Dalles. Fort Walla Walla is situated in latitude 46° 2′, and longitude 119° 30′. The sandy neighborhood of this settlement likens it to a little Arabia. The River Walla Walla pours its waters a mile distant from the fort. The lowlands, when watered, are tolerably fertile, and produce maize, wheat, potatoes, and pulse of every kind. Cows and hogs are easily raised, and horses abound in this part of the country.
Having already spoken to you of the desert Nez-Percé and Spokane, I have nothing further to add relative to this dreary region. On advancing easterly towards the Blue Mountains, we find beautiful and fertile plains, interspersed with limpid and wholesome streams. The valleys are picturesque, covered with luxuriant prairies, and forests of pine and fir. The Nez-Percé Kayuses inhabit these delightful pastures.[195] They are the most wealthy tribes in Oregon; {105} even some private families possess 1500 horses. The savages successfully cultivate potatoes, pease, corn, and several kinds of vegetables and fruits. No situation affords finer grazing for cattle; even in winter they find an abundance, nor do they need shelter from the inclemency of the weather. Snow is never seen, and the rains are neither destructive nor superabundant.
About the middle of July, I arrived safely with all my effects, at the Bay of Kalispels. In my absence the number of neophytes had considerably increased. On the feast of the Ascension, Father Hocken had the happiness of baptizing more than one hundred adults. Since my departure in the spring, our little colony has built four houses, prepared materials for constructing a small church, and enclosed a field of 300 acres. More than four hundred Kalispels, computing adults and children have been baptized. They are all animated with fervor and zeal; they make use of the hatchet and plough, being resolved to abandon an itinerant life for a permanent abode. The beautiful falls of the Columbia, called the Chaudières,[196] in the vicinity of Fort Colville, are distant two days’ journey from our new residence of St. Ignatius.