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Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre filmAs A des taux de r6duction diffArents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clichA, il est filnA A partir de Tangle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite. et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 'rata o )elure, 1 2 3 J 32X . ■*:^' t—,^^-^^—'*^——' Jan., 1887.] Historical Magazine. THE ORIGIN OF THE OREGON MISSION. BY EDMOND MALLET, LL.B. Canadian Pioneers— La Vurondrye Discovers the Rocky Mountains— French Set- tlunients in tlic Nortliwest — Tlio Hudson's Bay Coinpuny — The Nortliwest Compnny— The Metis People— Foundation of MUsions In Mnnitobii and Da- liotn— M(fr. Provencher -Extension of tlic MUoloiiary Field— Canadian Set- tlers in Oregon Territory Petition for Priests— Mgr. Provencher Replies— ni8 Letter to the BUIiop of Qiiet)ee— Corrcsponder.ee with Governor Sinipnon — Kstaljllshnient of the Columbia Mission Determined Upon— The Al>l)e Blon- chet Invited to Become itti Founder— Ills Edirying Dispositions— He is Ap- pointed Vicar-tieneral for the Country Beyond the Rooky Mountiiins — Tho Abbe Deniers Appointed his Assistant — Archbishop Blunchet. The Ei'encli of Canada were the first to e.xplore and settle tlie Great West. Uefore the English, J)nt(.'h, and Swedish colonists, on the Atlantic seaboanl, had ci'ossed the Appalachian ' range of mountains, French-Canadian pioneei-s and mission- aries had peneti'ated to the land of the Dakotas in the northwest, and to the plains of the Coinanches in the south, ])lanting as they went the Jleur-dt'-lis, the enihlein of the French nation, and the Ci'oss, the standard of the Christian woi'ld. Up to the year 1731, however — although the French ])08- fiessions and the diocese of Quebec were presumed to extend into the interioi", to the nttermo.«t limits of the undefined West — the country beyond I.,ake Supei'ioi and the head-waters of the Mississippi was still une.xploi-ed. It had been I'eserved for a Canadian gentleman, Pieri-e (Jaulthier, Sieur de La Ve- rendrye, to discover and o])en uj) the country for future aettlement. The Sieur de La 'Verendrye, while commanding a post at J^ake Nipigon, situated north of Lake Superior, obtained valu- able information from visiting Indians touching the great Kiver of the West, which, it was thought, must How into the Pacific N.W.Histcryn--^t.» PROVINCIAL- L-IBRARY VICTQBIA, B. C. aK479 United States Catholic [No. 1. Pacific Ocean. He prepared a memoir, accompanied by a map drawn from details received from a chief of the Cree Nation, wliich he caused to be transmitted to the authorities in France, with a request tha^ he might be provided with the necessary means to ecjuip an expeditionary party to explore the extreme northwest, and find h passaj^e to China and Japan. Tleceiving no practical encom-agement from the Court, he found himself obliged to tit out an expedition upon his own account, or, rather, upon tiiat of a company of merchants formed for the pui-pose, whicii advanced him limited means, oji condition that ho would so conduct the enterprise as to make it remunerative by dealing in furs. The trading privileges which he obtained from the Marquis de Oeauharnois, Governor of Canada, stipu- lated for his taking formal possession, in the name of the Kitig, of the country discovered, and for reporting on the best routes to connect Canada and Louisiana with the Pacific seaboard. The articles forming the company were signed at Montreal on May 19, 1731 ; and on the 26th of August following, after having taken Father Messager at Michillimackinac as mission- ary. La Vt^rendrye was at Grand Portage, near the present village of that name in Minnesota, with fifty men, prepared to commence his explorations. Following the chain of rivers and lakes which lead from Lake Superior to Lake Winnipeg, La Verendrye erocted se\^- eral forts along the roul e, the first, located on the west side of Lac la Pluie, or Rjiiny Lake, being named Fort'Saint-Pierre in honor of his patron saint. These forts were the base of op- erations for a season, after which the explorers pushed on further west, whilst their trading parties transported the furs to the com])any's warehouse in Canada, and carried back neces- sary supplies for another season's operations. Several years. were spent in exploring the country around Lake Winnipeg, when La Vyrendrye, with his sons, ascended the Assiniboiiie, and its tributary. Mouse Kiver, and reached the villages of the Mandans, a little below the present Fort Borthold, Dakota, in 1738 — sixty-six years before the American explorers, Lewis Jan., 1887.] Historical Magazine. anu Clark, visited them on their celebrated travels across tlie continent to the month of the Cohimhia. Fonr years later, the eldest of La Verendrve's sons, accompanied by one of his brothers, and two other Canadians, retnrned to the Mandans, ascended the Upper Missonri, and on January 1, 1743— the first of white men— discovered in the distance the luminous peaks of the Ilocky Mountains. After a march of twelve days they reached their base, at a point supposed to be near the present city of Helena, Montana. Returnina;, the party took a southern direction, crossed over to the head of the Musselshell, where they fell in with the Flat-Head Indians; then crossed the Yellow Stone to Wind Eiver, near Fremont's Peak, where the Snake Indians told them of the Green River, on the other side of the Wind River Mountains, which is a tributary of the Colorado of the We^t, flowing into the Gulf of California. On March 19th, having regained the banks of the Upper Missouri, and when among a tribe which they referred to as the Petite- Cerise, or Choke Cherries, they took formal possession of the country with the usual ceremonies. They also buried a leaden plate bearing the arms of Louis X 7., and erected a pyramid of stfmes in the name of Governor Beauharnois. On July 2, 1743, they reached their post at Fort La Reine, on the Assiniboine, after an absence of a little more than a year. La Verendrye's resources in men and supplies did not per- mit him to continue his explorations further ; and, suffering in health from the effects of wounds received on the battle- fields of Europe, and from advancing age— broken in spirit by the nuissacre of one of his sons, and the death of his de- voted nephew and follower— and wounded in his self-respect by the neglect of the authorities and the importunities of his creditors, he determined to return to Montreal, where he ar- rived in 1745, after fourteen years spent in exploi-ing the limitless Far West. As in the case of Jolliet, the ex])lorer of the Miosispippi, La Verendrye's services were ill requited, and others reaped the benefits accruing from his heroic labors ; 10 United Slates CatJioUc [No. 1. nor did a tardy justice ai d a meagre rewai"d reach him till ho was on the hritik of the grave.* The conntry thus opened up hy La Veretidrye became the great fur-land of North America ; and beside the fort of the trader soon a''ose the log-house of the colonist, so that when Canada passed into the possession of P^ngiand, in 1763, French eettlenients were to be found on the Red River of the North, on Lake Manitoba, and even on the mighty Saskatchewan. The Hudson's Bay (/umpany up to this time, and for some 3'ear8 later, had contined its operations to liupert's Land, in the immediate vicinity of Hudson's Ray, but New France having become Ikitish territory, this powerful association adopted the policy of extending its posts into the interior, south and west. The Canadian element in the country for some time refused to acknowledge the supr'^Tiacy of P^ngland, * Pierre Gaulthier, Sleur de La Verondryc, was born at Three Rivers, Canada, on Nov. 17, 1CS.5, and was the son of Rone Gaulthier, Siour de Varenncs, and of Marie Boucher, Ids wife, daui;hter of Mr. Pierre Bouehi'r, Uovenior of Three Rivers. Sleur de Varennes arrived in New France In l')fl.5, as lieutenant In the celebrated Curignan-Sali^res regiment, which, after doing vuUniit service in Can- ada, retunied to France, and reappeared in Anicriea under the name of Regiment de Perche, in Rochiimbeau's aimy, which was sent by Louis XVL as a contin- gent force to aid in the achievement of American Independence. Sicnr de Va- rennes succeeded Mr. Boucher as Oovernor of Three Kivers, and, upon his death in 1789, his eldest son, Louis (laulthier. Sieur de La Veretidrye, then a captain of grenadiers in an old French regiment, assumed liis father's title, Sleur de Varen- nes ; and his brother Pierre adopted his title, Sieur de La Verendryc. In 1704 and 170.5 Sieur de La Vt5rendrye made the campaigns in New England and Newfound- land with colonial troops, and soon afterward joined bis brother in Europe us en- sign ill the Regiment de Bretagnc. At the battle of Malplnquet he reeciv'-'. nine wounds and was promoted to a lieutenancy for gallantry. On tlie reduction of the army, after the war of the Spanish Succession, in which his brother was killed, Sleur de La Verendryc was mustered out of the service, and, failing to be restored to his raiilt of lieutenant, he returned to Canada. In 1713 lie was made ensign in the troops of the colony, nnd twenty years later he was promoted to a lieuten- ancy. After his discoveries in the Upper Country, lie was tardily rewarded with a captaincy and the Cross of Saint Louis. lie died in 1749, as be was preparing to start upon anotiitr expedition to 11ml the Pacific Ocean. (See Suite, " Les Gaulthier d (irand Vicar, and Mr. S. J. N. Dumoulin, the Vicur of Quel)ec." — Rev. G. A. Belcourt, " Department of Iludsou's Bay," in CM. Minn. Uul. Soe., i., 219-20. 19 United States Catholic [No. 1. poor, nepjlec'ted, spiritual children of the Upper Country. Tliese were the Abbii Joseph Norbert Provencher, who was ftp])oiiited vicar-nfoiieral and chief of tlie uiisnictn, and the Abbe Severe Joseph Nicolas Dunioulin, who accompanied him as assistant. The Abbe Pmvencher fixed his residence at La Fourche, since named St. Honiface, Manitoba, and his as- sociate established his station at Pembina, now in Dakota Ter- ritory. Four years later, in 1822, the Abbe Provencher was elevated to the dignity of bishop of the country, with tlie title of liishop of Juliopolis, in (iralatia, in pavtihm Injiddhtm, and auxiliary and suffragan of the bishop of Quebec, and vicar-apostolic; for the district of the Northwest. The arrival of missionaries, and later of a bishop, had pro- duced a sensation among the Canadians, Metis, and Indians in the Upper Country, which, in course of time, communicated itself to the remotest posts of the fur companies. The cessa- tion of hostilities between the rival associations, and their union, at about this time, under the general title of "The Honourable Hudson's Hay Company," paved the way for the establishment of other missions far in the interior. Thus the genial Hame of Christianity carried from the grotto of Manreza to the region of the Great Lakes, and the Missis- sippi Valley, was rekindled in the Seminary of Quebec, and carried to the farther Northwest. Even the Canadians in distant Oregon heard of the glad tidings, and they, too, longed for the day when missionaries would visit them, to reanimiite their faith.^ strengthen their good purposes, and reconcile them, and their wives and chil- dren, with Holy Mother Church. Their desires finally found expression when, on July 3, 1834, and again, on February 23, 1835, upon the suggestion of Dr. John McLoughlin, they drew nj) petitions to Mgr. Provencher, in which they repre- sented their sjid spiritual condition, and begged that priests might be sent to reside with them on the banks of the Walla- mette.* These petitions were strongly indorsed by the officers * Dr. John HcLougblln, chief factor of the Hudsou's Bay Company, in cliarge [No. 1. Country. who was and the [upanii'd ■esidence lul his a8- cota Tcr- cher was witli the HdcUum, ibi'c, and had pro- ndians in )nni('ated 'he cesaa- and their of "The ly for the jr. Thus grotto of le Missis- C'bec, and tlie glad isfiionaries hen their and chil- illy found )ruary 23, ilin, they ley repre- at priests l.e Walla- ce officers ly, in cbargo Jan.. 1887.] Historical Magazine. 18 of the Hudson's Hay Company at Fort Vancouver, who nrgod that Canadian priests should come to e.^itahlish a tnissiun in their midst, and that one, at least, pliould In; sent iinuiediately. They rejjres^ented that the Comj)any would furni.sh them free transjiortation, either overland or hy sea, and provide for all their necessities until they (.'ould permanently establish tiieir mission. On tlieir part, the (^anadian settlers promised to do all they could for the missionaries, specifyiiig ihat each family would contribute twenty bushels of grain yearly towards their support. Mgr. Provencher W'as touched by the manifestation of sucil good dispositions, and on iFune 8, 1835, he sent the Canadians of Oregon a pastoral letter, in which he replied to their peti- tions that be had no j)riest at the Ked Kiver settlement whom he could send them, but that he was about to make a journey to Canada, and also t(> Ein-oj)e, and that he would do all in his power to comply with their wishes, by establishing a mission for them and the nuuierous Indian tribes beyond the Kocky JVIountiiins. He exhorted them, in the meantime to bring up their children in accordance with the principles of Christian morality, and, as far as jtossible, to teach tlient all they knew of religion ; to live more in conformity with the faith which they professed, and to give their wives, and the otlier natives, better example, so that when missionaries came to thein they would all be found well disposed to avail themselves of the benefits of their ministry. "1 pray," said the pastoral, in its concluding passages, "that (»od may touch your hearts, and change them. My greatest consolation would be to learn that, as soon as this letter was read to you, you began to give more attention to the great atfair of your salvation." A number of of the Department nf the Columbia, was an IriRb-Canadian, and a tnic friend of his compatriots of French origni. In prompting tlie Cuniuliiins of Uic Wulla- mette to petition for missionaries of their faith, lie was actuated by the same spirit of Christian charity and of enli;rhtencd statesmanship which characterized the Enrl of Selliirk in respect to the poor Catholics of the Red River of Uic North. Such men are true noblemen, and future (jeuerations will bless their memories. 14 United States Catholic [No. I catephismfl accompanied the pastoral, w I lieh was Kent to Dr. McLouglilin, to be delivered to the settlers of French Prairie, in the VVallainette vallej. On tlie following; day, M{;r. Provencher wrote to Mf?r. .To(*eph Sii^iai, then HiHhop of Quebec, conceriiitif^ the pro- posed Miission heyond ihe Kocky M(»iuitaiiiH, or on the Coliiui- hia, accordirif? to the expression of the time. " There is there," he said, "'the connnencenient of a colony, composed of old Canadian voifaycuvH and their families, who, last summer and this winter, .'•ent me petitions re(iuestin<; missionaries It is a beautiful country .... and there is every hope of suc- cess in converting the Indians, who live in villaijes, which gives facility in instrnctinj; them, an advantaj^e that is wantinj^ liere. That territory is outside of my jurisdii-tion and, j)rol). ably, outside of y(»urs — I do not know the terms of the bulls of erection of the bishopric of Quebec. I think, however, that they extend over all of the French possessions of that time." The Bishop of Juliopolis then refers to the arrival in Oregon of two Methodist missionaries, and of the expected arrival of an Anglican chaplain, who had end)arked the previous autumn and was about due in the country, he having, at last accounts, rounded (Jape Horn. He beheveil tliat Providence had pre- y>ared the way for an intportant mission on the Columbia, and that it could not but be successful if priests of ability were sent to found it. From the tenor of Mgr. Provencher's letter, it is evident that he considered the Abbe Alexis Mailloux, then Superior of the College of Sainte-Anne do la Pocatiere, and 8ubse Maillonx, Pocatiere, 3rcame tlie )laoe at tho in Europe, !r with the ith rehitive of Qiiehec I Columbia Bspondeuce Jan.. 1887.1 Historical Magazine. 15 with (lovernor Simpnon, of the HudHoii's Hay Company, to Hoeuro trans-portation for them. The (iovenior and (Commit- tee in London, and the Council in llndsonV I'l . bcinj; less Hjinpathetic than tli(! otHcers of the C'ompanv in Kort \ an- ('Oliver, objected to the establi.'diment of tl ■ minpion, on the ground that tiit sovereignty of the couiiti_, vViw in diHpnte be- tween Ene regu- 8 18 United States Catholic [No. 1. given him for his guidance. The Abbe Modeste Demers, a young priest who had been ordained the previous year, and who had been sent to the mission of the Eed Eiver of the I^orth, was to be appointed as his associate by Mgr. Proven- cher, to whose Yicariatc-Apostolic the Columbia country had been annexed, Ly an Indult of the Holy See, dated February 28, 1836. The interesting history of the ifiissionaries' voyage from Lachine, Canada, to Fort Vancouver, Washington Territory, through the wjdest part of the continent, performed in canoes and on horsebaclc during a period of more than six months ; of the actual foundation of the Oregon Mission, proper, by the Abbe Blanchet in 1838, and of the establishment of the Flat-Head Mission in the llocky Mountains by Father De Smet two years later, do not enter into the plan of this paper, but are the subjects of separate chapters in continuation of the one now presented. However, I cannot forbear suggesting what follows : Passing over a period of forty-three years, let us assist at a solemn ceremony at the cathedral of the archiepiscopal city of Portland, Oregon. It is in the year 1881. The Abbe Blan- chet, now a venerable man of eighty-six years of age, and the Metropolitan of that immense ecclesiastical province, with tot- tering steps ascends the altar to read his farewell pastoral, and to introduce his successor. The scene is impressive beyond description. Strong men bow their heads to conceal their tears, women and children sob aloud throughout the vast con- gregation ! Listen to the words of the Patriarch of the West : " After sixty-two years of the priesthood ; after forty-three years of toilsome labor on this coast ; after aii episcopate of thirty-six years ; after thirty-five years spent at the head of th''s Episcopal Province, we may say with the Apostle St. Paul, ' The time of my dissolution is at hand. I have finished lated bj' the civil powers. The mlasloimries, however, established misblous in Oregon, for the reason that no American Bishop exercised actual jurisdiction over that territory.— E. M. [No. 1. e Demers, a 18 year, and liver of the gr. Proven- country had " February oyage from 1 Territory, ed in canoes six months; 1, proper, by ment of the Father De f this paper, nation of the ir suggesting us assist at a scopal city of 3 Abbe Blan- age, and the nee, with tot- pastoral, and ssive beyond conceal their the vast con- of the AVcst : 3r forty-three episcopate of the head of Apostle St. liave linished ilicd nii»biouB in lual jurisdiction Jan., 1887.] Historical Magazine. 19 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 salvation.' We came to this country, accompanied by the late Modeste Demers, the first Bishop of Vancouver's 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, jn'osperons missions, a zealous clergy, fervent communities, and a Catholic people of whom we ex- pect great w^orks and noble deeds." And again : " At the age of eighty -six years, we feel that ' we are grow- ing old like a garment,' and that ' our generation being at an ' end' oiir time has at last arrived to retire into a place of rest, and of solitude, in order ' to recount to God all our years in the bitterness of our soul.' Farewell then, beloved and rev- erend brethren of the priesthood, who have been so often our consolation. Farewell, beloved daughters. Christian virgins, spouses of Jesus Christ, who have so often edified and rejoiced us with the perfume of your virtues. Farewell, beloved chil- dren of the laity, who have been so long the object of our conceiTi, and of our prayei-ful solicitude. Farewell, young men, in whom we behold with pleasure the future of the Cath- olic Church in this country. Farewell, little children, the be- loved of Jesus Christ, and the cherished of our heart. We part now, but we have the tinn hope of seeing you forever in heaven. Forget not your old and loving spiritual father; for- give 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." In this touching address, so full of paternal solicitude and Christian meekness, we find again the noble dispositions which characterized the servant of God, when, half a century before, he assumed the heroic task of planting the faith in the valley of the Columbia. Passing over two years more, we are called upon to witness w ao United States Catholic [No. 1. a still more solemn and impressive ceremony than the first. The cathedral is draped in the habiliments of mourning. A young prelate ascends the altar-steps with a firm foot, but with sincere grief depicted on his visage. It is the successor of the apostles, Modesto Demers and Frangois Norbert Blanchet. Pointing tothe inanimate clay before him, he says: .... "Do you realize it, beloved brethren ? He is the apostle of this coast, the fourldation of this mission, the corner-stone 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 flour- ishing condition of Christianity in this country ; and he is dead ! . . . . Do you know, beloved brethren, that a time will cotne when the name of Archbishop Blanchet will be coupled with those of Las Casas, the first missionary of Cen- tral America, of Marquette and Brebeuf, the pioneers of the Cross in Canada and *he States of the Atlantic ? "Why? Because iie 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 Ireland ! And believe me, our children will envy us the bless- ing of having seen him, of having eonveraed with him, of having listened to his voice." It has been my privilege to have seen him, to have con- versed with him, to have knelt at his feet and received his apostolic blessing. If this blessing can be transmitted, I now cheerfully and reverently share it with the United States Catholic Historical Society. nourning. that a time lanchet will be ionary of Ceii- ioneers of tlie , the apostle of IS to Gennanj, Patrick was to vy us the bless- d with him, of , to have con- id received his jsmitted, I now United States ^"•>■«?^v^««S^ -^^^it-^SMiKW