[101] Stuart River was discovered (1806) by Simon Fraser, who named it in

honor of his companion, John Stuart. It rises near latitude 56° north,

flowing southwest through several lakes, of which Stuart Lake is the

largest, into Nechaco River. The latter comes from the west along the

fifty-fourth parallel, and carries the waters of Stuart’s River into the

Fraser, sixty-five miles farther east at the site of Fort George.—ED.

[102] Chilcotin River, named for a turbulent Indian tribe, rises in

several branches, and flows west not far from the fifty-second parallel,

into Fraser River. By Pinkslitsa is probably intended the Puntataenkut,

a small western affluent entering the Fraser at 53° north latitude,

opposite the Quesnel, which comes from the east, having taken its rise in

a large lake of the same name. For Thompson’s River see our volume vii,

p. 159, note 51.—ED.

[103] Chehalis River, the largest coastal stream of Washington, drains

the western central part of that state, receiving many tributaries from

the southern slope of the Olympic Mountains. It is navigable for steamers

as far as Montesano, seat of a county of the same name as the river. The

principal industry of the Chehalis River valley is lumbering, although

agriculture is creeping into the cleared districts. Gray’s Harbor branch

of the Northern Pacific Railway traverses the entire valley. For Gray’s

Harbor see our volume vi, p. 256, note 64.—ED.

[104] For the Umpqua see our volume vii, p. 231, note 82; for the

Klamath, _ante_, p. 46, note 56. Rogue River in the southwestern

portion of Oregon, is a rapid stream of considerable size, rising in

many branches in the Cascade Range, its northernmost tributary heading

near Crater Lake. Its general course is west and southwest, the chief

tributary being Illinois River. The name Rogue was derived from a

troublesome tribe of Indians who attacked parties of overland emigrants

from California; see our volume xxi, pp. 328, 329.—ED.

[105] For Lake Okanagan see De Smet’s _Letters_ in our volume xxvii, p.

372, note 193. Stuart and Quesnel are mentioned in notes 99, 101, _ante_;

Lake Kamloops in our volume vii, p. 159, note 51.—ED.

[106] Flat Bow is now known as Kootenai Lake, an enlargement of the

river of that name in southeastern British Columbia, over sixty miles

in length. For Cœur d’Alène Lake see our volume vii, p. 211, note 75;

Kulluspelm (Kalispel) is the modern Pend d’Oreille Lake, for which see De

Smet’s _Letters_ in our volume xxvii, p. 339, note 175.—ED.

[107] Referring to the Lapwai mission, for which see our volume xxviii,

p. 338, note 215.—ED.

[108] Both of these names were assigned by Vancouver in the course of

his exploration in 1792. Having entered the Straits of Juan de Fuca he

anchored at Port Discovery, and then proceeding west sailed through the

great inlet whose opening (passed in 1790) was called by the Spanish

navigator Quimper, Canal de Caamano. Vancouver thoroughly explored this

arm of the ocean, giving to its southwestern branch the name of Hood’s

Inlet; and “to commemorate Mr Puget’s exertions (in exploring) the south

extremity of it I named it Puget’s Sound.” (Vancouver’s _Voyage_, ii, p.

146.)—ED.

[109] For the settlements at Nisqually and Cowlitz see De Smet’s

_Letters_ in our volume xxvii, p. 386, note 203.—ED.

[110] This information concerning Fort Boise was incorrect; see our

volume xxviii, p. 321, note 199, and Palmer’s _Journal_ in our volume

xxx, which mentions this post in 1845.

Kamia was a mission established at the mouth of a stream of that name,

now called Lawyer’s Cañon Creek. Here Rev. Asa B. Smith labored for two

years (1839-41) among the upper Nez Percés, compiling with the help

of the noted chief Lawyer a grammar and dictionary of the Nez Percé

language. The hostility of the tribe did not, however, materially abate;

the missionaries were denied the right of agriculture and the station was

finally abandoned. Lewis and Clark camped near the site of this mission

in 1806, on their return journey.—ED.

[111] The Puget Sound Agricultural Company was organized in London

(1838) at the instance of Dr. McLoughlin, who perceived the agricultural

possibilities of the region and desired to turn them to account for

British enterprise. It was a sub-corporation of the Hudson’s Bay Company,

designed to supply the Russian contracts. Farms were opened at the

points stated by Farnham, and large quantities of cattle imported from

California. Dr. W. F. Tolmie, who made headquarters at Nisqually, was

manager of the corporation. After the Oregon Treaty (1846) he withdrew

the headquarters to Victoria. The farms in Oregon proper were gradually

abandoned. Those in the present state of Washington, however, were

retained, and were the cause of much friction between the company and

the American settlers. In 1864 the commission appointed by the joint

governments to settle claims, awarded the Puget Sound Agricultural

Company $750,000 for their land and improvements in lieu of $5,000,000

claimed by the corporation. The company continued operations in British

Columbia until about 1874, but never attained financial success. As a

colonizing agency the association in successive years brought (after

1839) several companies of settlers from the Red River colony—a movement

which is reported to have alarmed Dr. Marcus Whitman, and to have been

one of the causes of his journey (1842-43) to the United States.—ED.

[112] For these mission sites see De Smet’s _Letters_, our volume xxvii,

pp. 367, 388, 389, notes 187, 208, 209.—ED.

[113] The sale of spirituous liquors to Indians, during the days of

the competition between the fur-companies (see preface to J. Long’s

_Voyages_ in our volume ii) was so ruinous and dangerous that early in

the nineteenth century the North West Company, moved by the exertions

of William Wilberforce and other English philanthropists, made strong

efforts to discontinue the traffic, and upon its consolidation with

the Hudson’s Bay Company (1821) the liquor-selling to natives was

forbidden. Surreptitiously, however, this was continued, especially upon

the seacoast and the Russian frontier. Upon the assassination of John

McLoughlin, Jr., at his post at Stikeen, caused by a drunken frolic

(1842), Sir George Simpson visited Sitka and entered into an agreement

with the Russian governor Adolphus Etholin, to suppress the sale of

liquor to the Indians in both Russian and British territory. Meanwhile

Dr. McLoughlin at Vancouver, used his best endeavors to stamp out the

traffic in Oregon. The vessel purchased (1841) as Farnham here narrates,

was the “Thomas H. Perkins” from Salem, Mass. The Oregon provisional

government made similar efforts, passing a prohibitory law (1844) under

which two incipient distilleries were destroyed. Not until the rush of

settlement coming with the gold seekers (1848-50) began, did the liquor

traffic gain much foothold.—ED.

[114] For a brief sketch of Father Nicolas Point see De Smet’s _Letters_

in our volume xxvii, p. 192, note 67.—ED.

[115] On the boundaries of Oregon consult our volume xxviii, p. 29,

note 1. By the Oregon Treaty (1846) the northern boundary was fixed at

the parallel 49°; north of this was British, not Russian, territory.

The writer of this introductory matter seems not to have been well

informed.—ED.

[116] For the early Spanish explorations of the Northwest Coast see

Farnham’s _Travels_ in our volume xxviii, pp. 30-32, including notes

3-9.—ED.

[117] Compare with this Franchère’s _Narrative_ in our volume vi, pp.

248, 249; see also H. S. Lyman, _History of Oregon_ (New York, 1903), i,

pp. 167-174, where the traditions of descendants from early castaways are

collected. The Tillamook (Kilamuke) Indians are noted in our volume vi,

p. 258, note 67.—ED.

[118] For Cook’s discoveries (1778-79, not 1790) see our volume xxviii,

p. 31 note 6; for Gray, Vancouver, and Mackenzie, our volume vi, pp.

183-185, notes 1, 2, 4.—ED.

[119] For the Lewis and Clark expedition see Thwaites, _Original

Journals_ (New York, 1905). The Astorian enterprise is narrated in

Franchère’s _Narrative_ and Ross’s _Oregon Settlers_, volumes vi and vii

of our series.—ED.

[120] See Franchère’s _Narrative_ in our volume vi, pp. 294-303; and

Ross’s _Oregon Settlers_ in our volume vii, pp. 244-250.—ED.

[121] For McLoughlin see Townsend’s _Narrative_ in our volume xxi, p.

296, note 81.—ED.

[122] See, on the Willamette settlement, De Smet’s _Letters_ in our

volume xxvii, p. 386, note 203; on Provencher, _ibid._, p. 391, note

213.—ED.

[123] The Methodist here mentioned was Jason Lee, who went out in 1833;

see our volume xxi, p. 138, note 13. The Episcopalian clergyman was Rev.

Herbert Beaver, who was sent as chaplain by the Hudson’s Bay Company

on their vessel the “Nereid,” arriving at Vancouver in August, 1836.

Although having formerly served in the West Indies, Beaver did not

find it easy to adapt himself to frontier life, and for his officious

criticisms incurred the dislike of the gentlemen at Fort Vancouver. After

eighteen months of service he returned to England, and the company sent

no more chaplains to the Northwest.—ED.

[124] For these two priests see De Smet’s _Letters_ in our volume xxvii,

pp. 320, 369, notes 164, 189.—ED.

[125] See our volume xxviii, p. 380, note 242, for account of Douglas.—ED.

[126] The Catholic settlement was that known as French Prairie; the

Methodist establishment is described in De Smet’s _Letters_, our volume

xxvii, p. 388, note 208.—ED.

[127] The Cowlitz and Nisqually settlements are noted in our volume

xxvii, p. 386, note 203.

Whidbey (not Whitby) is a large island in Puget Sound, which was named

(1792) in honor of Joseph Whidbey, one of Vancouver’s subordinates, who

first circumnavigated it. The permanent American settlement thereon began

in 1851, and prospered because of its fertile open prairie land.—ED.

[128] For Fort Langley see note 75 (Farnham), _ante_, p. 58.—ED.

[129] The site and founding of this mission is described in De Smet’s

_Letters_, our volume xxvii, pp. 281-284.—ED.

[130] Bear Lake, frequently called Lake Connolly, was the site of the

Hudson’s Bay post of that name founded about 1826 among the Sekanais

Indians. It is somewhat north of latitude 56° near the source of Stuart

River.—ED.

[131] Mt. St. Helena was measured by Captain Wilkes, and was made 9,550

feet.—EDITOR OF CATHOLIC ALMANAC.

_Comment by Ed._ For Mount St. Helens see our volume vi, p. 246, note 50.

[132] For the Klamath (Clamet) see note 56 (Farnham), _ante_, p. 46; the

Umpqua is noted in our volume vii, p. 231, note 82; the Chehalis, note

103 (Farnham), _ante_, p. 81.—ED.

[133] For this epidemic see note 84 (Farnham), _ante_, p. 68.—ED.

[134] On the camas consult our volume xxi, p. 247, note 61.—ED.

[135] The Chinook and Kilamuke tribes on the coast call their most

powerful god by the name of Ikani, and to him they ascribe the creation

of all things. The god who made the Columbia river and the fish in it

they call Italupus.—_Expl. Exp._, vol. v., p. 119.—ED. OF CATHOLIC

ALMANAC.

[136] For the sites of the Methodist missions see De Smet’s _Letters_,

in our volume xxvii, p. 388, note 208. Our author here refers to the

Willamette and Dalles missions. For the Presbyterian missions consult our

volume xxi, p. 352, note 125; De Smet’s _Letters_, our volume xxvii, p.

367, note 187; and Farnham’s _Travels_, in our volume xxviii, pp. 333,

338, notes 210, 215.—ED.

[137] This was known as the “great re-inforcement,” and was secured

by Jason Lee on his return to the United States in 1838-39. The

bark “Lausanne” was chartered, and inducements held out not only to

missionaries but to farmers and mechanics, to volunteer for this

movement. The expense incurred was $42,000, and in addition thereto a

sum was said to have been contributed by the federal government from the

secret service fund. (H. H. Bancroft, _History of Oregon_, i, p. 171.)

Fifty-two persons set sail from New York October 10, 1839, arriving in

the Columbia the following May, and, as our author here indicates, soon

scattering to various posts. This formed the nucleus of the American

colony in Oregon.—ED.

[138] For this symbolical catechism and its explanation see De Smet’s

_Letters_, in our volume xxvii, pp. 403-411.—ED.

[139] Speaking of the farm belonging to the Hudson Bay Company at

Cowlitz, Capt. Wilkes says: “The grounds appear well prepared, and were

covered with a luxuriant crop of wheat, (May, 1841). At the farther end

of the prairie was to be seen a settlement, with its orchards, &c., and

between the trees, the chapel and parsonage of the Catholic mission gave

an air of civilization to the whole. The degree of progress resembles

that of a settlement of several years’ standing in our western states,”

&c.—_Explor. Exped._, vol. iv., p. 315.—ED. OF CATHOLIC ALMANAC.

[140] For these Hudson’s Bay posts see respectively, De Smet’s _Letters_,

our volume xxvii, p. 330, note 166; Franchère’s _Narrative_, in our

volume vi, p. 260, note 71; and Townsend’s _Narrative_, in our volume

xxi, p. 278, note 73.—ED.

[141] For Fort George see note 74 (Farnham), _ante_, p. 57. The Chinook

are described in our volume vi, p. 240, note 40.—ED.

[142] Of the Catholic mission at Penn’s cove, between Whitby’s Island

and the main, Mr. Wilkes says: “It (the island) is in possession of the

Sacket tribe, who have here a permanent settlement, consisting of large

and well-built lodges of timber and planks.... This whole tribe are

Catholics, and have much affection and reverence for their instructors.”

After speaking of the good feeling promoted among the Indians by the

Catholic clergymen, he continues: “Besides inculcating good morals and

peace, the priests are inducing the Indians to cultivate the soil, and

there was an enclosure of some three or four acres, in which potatoes and

beans were growing.”—ED. OF CATHOLIC ALMANAC.

[143] Sir Edward Belcher (1799-1877) of the British navy was born at

Halifax, Nova Scotia, entered the navy in 1812, and was commissioned a

lieutenant in 1818. He became an expert in surveying and charting, and

was thus employed (1825-28) in the Pacific Ocean on H. M. S. “Blossom.”

In 1836 he was appointed to the command of the man-of-war “Sulphur,”

which was sent to the Pacific on a surveying expedition, and incidentally

on account of the British difficulties with the Russian settlements of

Alaska. In 1839 (not 1840) he surveyed the coast from San Francisco Bay

to the Columbia, entering the latter with two men-of-war, “Sulphur” and

“Starling,” and surveying as far as Fort Vancouver. Belcher’s relations

with the Hudson’s Bay official in charge were not cordial, and he

criticized both the unmilitary appearance of Fort Vancouver and Dr.

McLoughlin’s attitude toward the American missionary colonists. On the

return journey, Belcher’s ships were detained on the coast of China by

the war in those parts. An account of the voyage was published in London

(1843), and the same year Belcher was knighted. He cruised in Oriental

waters from 1842-47. In 1852-54 he commanded an Arctic expedition

searching for Sir John Franklin.—ED.

[144] Sir George Simpson, born in Ross-shire, Scotland (1792), was in

a merchant’s office in London, 1809-20. In the latter year he came to

America, having charge during the winter of 1820-21 of a Hudson’s Bay

post on Lake Athabasca. Upon the coalition of the rival fur-companies,

the North West and Hudson’s Bay (1821), Simpson was chosen governor for

the northern department, a position filled with acceptability until

his death in 1860. He made two expeditions to the Northwest Coast, the

first by canoe in 1828. In 1841-42 he journeyed entirely around the

world. Leaving Liverpool in March, 1841, he reached Fort Garry in the

Red River country (the modern Winnipeg), in May, whence the trip across

the plains and mountains to Fort Colville was made by horses. Proceeding

down the Columbia to Vancouver, Sir George visited California and Alaska,

returning overland across Siberia, and reaching London after an absence

of nineteen months. His adventures were published as _A Narrative of a

Journey around the World, 1841-42_ (London, 1847). For a recent study of

Simpson see George Bryce, _Makers of Canada_ (Toronto, 1905), ix. Simpson

met Wilkes at Vancouver, and speaks of the pleasure it gave him. See

Farnham’s _Travels_, _ante_, p. 72, note 88.—ED.

[145] “We stopped for a few hours at the Catholic mission,” says Capt.

Wilkes, “to call upon the Rev. Mr. Bachelet (Blanchet), to whom I had

a note of introduction from Dr. McLaughlin; he received me with great

kindness. Mr. B. is here settled among his flock, and is doing great good

to the settlers in ministering to their temporal as well as spiritual

wants.... Mr. Drayton, Michael, and myself, dined with Mr. B. on oatmeal

porridge, venison, strawberries and cream. His hospitality was tendered

with good and kind feelings, and with a gentlemanly deportment that spoke

much in his favor, and made us regret to leave his company so soon.” Mr.

Wilkes represents the missions here and the farms of the Canadians, in

a thriving state. He has incorrectly given the name _Bachelet_ to Mr.

Blanchet, superior of the Oregon mission, who was recently consecrated

vicar-apostolic of that country.—_Explor. Exp._, vol. 4, p. 350.

Of the Methodist mission at Willamette, Mr. Wilkes says: “About all the

premises of this mission there was an evident want of the attention

required to keep things in repair, and an absence of neatness that I

regretted much to witness. We had the expectation of getting a sight of

the Indians on whom they were inculcating good habits, and teaching the

word of God: but with the exception of four Indian servants, we saw none

since leaving the Catholic mission.”—_Ibid._ p. 351, 2. At this latter

mission he numbers four or five hundred natives. The Methodists had a

school of twenty pupils at some distance.

Near Port Orchard the chapel of the Catholic mission is 172 feet long by

72 wide. “Many of the natives,” says Mr. Wilkes, “are capable of saying

their prayers and telling their beads, and some were met with who could

sing some Catholic hymns in their own language.”

Of the Protestant missions at Clatsop, Capt. Wilkes observes: “There

appeared to me to be little opportunity for exercising their ministerial

calling, though I understood afterwards that at particular seasons a

number of Indians collected to hear them.”—Vol. iv., p. 322.—ED. OF

CATHOLIC ALMANAC.

[146] See our volume xxvii (De Smet), pp. 192, 193, notes 67, 69, 70.—ED.

[147] Identical with De Smet’s _Letters_ published in our volume

xxvii.—ED.

[148] These two missionaries were refused passage in the annual Hudson’s

Bay Company’s brigade, and came to Oregon by sea, arriving in September,

1842. Langlois was placed in charge of the Willamette mission and the

seminary of St. Joseph. Bolduc, who had formerly served in Polynesia,

relates _post_ his experiences in Vancouver Island and vicinity.—ED.

[149] See De Smet’s account in his _Letters_, our volume xxvii, pp.

374-376.—ED.

[150] H. M. Chittenden and A. T. Richardson, in _Father De Smet’s Life

and Travels_ (New York, 1905), give the following information with regard

to these fathers: Peter De Vos was born in Ghent in 1797; coming to

America in 1836 he went in 1842 to reinforce the mission of St. Mary’s in

Montana. He served there and in the Willamette valley for eight years,

when he was transferred to the College of Santa Clara, California, where

he died April 17, 1859.

Father Adrian, younger brother of Father Christian Hoeken, was born in

Holland in 1815. His mission service was connected with St. Ignatius at

its first site in 1844-54, and at the present site in 1854-59. In the

latter year he re-opened the abandoned Blackfeet mission, returning the

following year (1860) to the East, where he spent his later life, dying

at Marquette College, Milwaukee, April 19, 1897.—ED.

[151] Michele Accolti was born at Bari, Italy, in 1806. Having been

educated at Rome, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1832, and

accompanying De Smet to Oregon remained there until 1851 in charge of

various parishes both north and south of the Columbia. About 1851 Accolti

removed to San Francisco, and in 1853 went to Rome for reinforcements for

the newly-founded Jesuit college at Santa Clara. Returning thither in

1855 he served as pastor for ten years, when he was transferred to San

Francisco, where he died November 6, 1878.

Giovanni Nobili was a native of Rome (1812). After six years in Oregon he

was transferred to California, and died at Santa Clara, March 1, 1856.

See _post_ for the account of his journey to New Caledonia, where he was

known as “Petit Père,” because of his small stature.

Antonio Ravalli was born in Ferrara in 1812. After entering the Jesuit

order (1827) he taught for some years in Turin and neighboring cities,

before coming to Oregon with Father de Smet. His first station was at St.

Ignatius, whence he went to Fort Colville, removing shortly to St. Mary’s

in the Bitterroot valley where so much of his life was spent. When St.

Mary’s was abandoned (1854), Father Ravalli removed to the Sacred Heart

mission, returning three years later to the Colville region. In 1860 he

retired to Santa Clara, California, where for three years he was master

of novices. But his heart was in the mountains, whither he returned and

labored until his death, October 2, 1884. Father Ravalli was much beloved

in Montana. For illustration of his monument see L. P. Palladino, _Indian

and White in the Northwest_ (Baltimore, 1894), p. 55.

Aloysius Vercruysse was born at Courträi, Belgium, in 1806. He served

chiefly at St. Ignatius mission, being transferred to Santa Clara in

1863. Thence, because of failing health, he was sent home to Belgium,

where he died July 17, 1866.

Brother Francis Huybrechts died at the Cœur d’Alène mission April 5,

1872, aged seventy-four years.—ED.

[152] De Smet gives a detailed account of the voyage and the visit to

Valparaiso and Lima, in the first letter in his _Western Missions and

Missionaries_ (New York, 1863). See also Chittenden and Richardson, _De

Smet_, ii, pp. 408-436.—ED.

[153] On the bar of the Columbia River occurred the wreck of the

_Peacock_, one of the vessels attached to the Exploring Expedition. A

thrilling account of this event is given in Capt. Wilkes’ Narrative. Of

the bar itself he says: “Mere description can give little idea of the

terrors of the bar of the Columbia; all who have seen it have spoken

of the wildness of the scene, and the incessant roar of the waters,

representing it as one of the most fearful sights that can possibly meet

the eye of the sailor. The difficulty of its channel, the distance of the

leading sailing marks, their uncertainty to one unacquainted with them,

the want of knowledge of the strength and direction of the currents, with

the necessity of approaching close to unseen dangers, the transition from

clear to turbid water, all cause doubt and mistrust. Under such feelings,

I must confess that I felt myself laboring.”—Vol. iv., p. 293.—ED. OF

CATHOLIC ALMANAC.

[154] For this mission see De Smet’s _Letters_ in our volume xxvii, p.

365, note 184. The direction from St. Mary’s is northwest, not south.—ED.

[155] These were Fathers Zerbinati and Joset, and Brother Magri, whom De

Smet met in his journey eastward preparatory to sailing for Europe, and

who had been sent as reinforcement by the Jesuit authorities abroad. They

went forward to the frontier, arriving at the mission late in 1843.

Pietro Zerbinati remained at St. Mary’s mission, where he was

accidentally drowned late in the summer of 1845.

Joseph Joset was of Swiss origin. He reinforced the Cœur d’Alène mission,

where he resided for many years, serving both the government and the

cause of the Indians in the war of 1858. He was frequently stationed

at Colville, and for some years served a church in Spokane. In 1891 he

returned to the Cœur d’Alène mission, dying at De Smet in 1900.

Brother Vincent Magri was a skilled mechanic, and had charge of milling

operations at St. Ignatius. Later he was sent to the Cœur d’Alène

mission, where he died June 18, 1869.—ED.

[156] Augustine Magloire Alexander Blanchet, younger brother of

Archbishop Blanchet, was born near Quebec in 1797, educated in that

city, and consecrated to the priesthood in 1821. For some years he

served as missionary on islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and at Cape

Breton; then he returned to parish work, being arrested on a charge of

participating in the Papineau revolt. No evidence to that effect being

adduced, he was released, and was serving as canon of Montreal cathedral

when called by his brother (1844) to be bishop of Walla Walla. After

consecration as herein described, he set out for his diocese by way of

St. Louis, first having declared his intention of becoming a citizen

of the United States. Blanchet arrived on the Walla Walla September 5,

1847, shortly before the Whitman massacre. The Catholics were accused,

doubtless unjustly, of having instigated that event, whose horrors

they sought to mitigate. Blanchet was obliged to abandon the Cayuse

mission, and in 1850 was made bishop of Nisqually, a diocese which later

(1853) was co-extensive with Washington Territory. He established his

headquarters at Vancouver, where was inaugurated a long litigation of

the land claim of the church. Bishop Blanchet resigned in 1878, dying in

retirement February 15, 1887.—ED.

[157] Bolduc probably refers to the Spanish settlement at Nootka Sound;

see Farnham’s _Travels_ in our volume xxviii, pp. 32, 33, notes 8 and

10.—ED.

[158] For Mounts Hood and St. Helens see our volume vi, pp. 246, 248,

notes 50, 54; for Baker and Rainier, see notes 29, 30 (Farnham), _ante_,

p. 33.—ED.

[159] For the Cowlitz settlement see De Smet’s _Letters_, in our volume

xxvii, p. 386, note 203. “Shwally” is a form for Nisqually, described in

the same note.—ED.

[160] Still known as Partridge (Perdrix) Point, on the west side of

Whidbey Island, opposite Penn Cove.—ED.

[161] The eulachon (_Thaleichthys pacificus_), commonly known as the

candlefish. It is of the smelt order, and has a delicious flavor. See a

drawing by Capt. William Clark in _Original Journals of the Lewis and

Clark Expedition_, iv, frontispiece.—ED.

[162] For the Clallam consult De Smet’s _Letters_ in our volume xxvii, p.

387, note 207.—ED.

[163] For Vancouver Island see Farnham’s _Travels_, _ante_, p. 75, note

91. The expedition landed in Camosun Bay. A manuscript journal of Sir

James Douglas forms the basis of the account in H. H. Bancroft, _History

of British Columbia_ (San Francisco, 1887), pp. 92-116.—ED.

[164] These were the Songhies, a tribe of Coast Salishan stock,

inhabiting the region around Victoria. For a detailed description of

this tribe see Franz Boas in _Report_ of British Association for the

Advancement of Science, 1890, pp. 563-582. Boas gives the proper tribal

name as Lkuñgen, and says the term Songhies (Songish) is derived from one

of their septs. As Bolduc reports, they lived in the long board houses

with carved posts, and enclosed their village with palisades. There are

about a hundred of this tribe extant under the charge of the Cowichan

agency.—ED.

[165] This was a band of Cowichan Indians, named for their chieftain

Tsoughilam (Toungletats). The Cowichan are a large subdivision of the

Coast Salishan tribe, occupying the east coast of Vancouver Island, and

up the Fraser River as far as Yale; see _Report_ of British Association

for the Advancement of Science, 1894, pp. 454-463. See also an account

of the attack of this tribe on the newly-erected Fort Camosun in H. H.

Bancroft, _British Columbia_, pp. 106-110.—ED.

[166] The former tribe was probably the Kwantlums, a branch of the

Cowichan family, occupying the lower Fraser valley about Fort Langley and

above.—ED.

[167] For Kawitskins (Cowichan) and Klalams (Clallam), see _ante_, p.

148, note 49; for Isanisks (Songhies), p. 149, note 51.—ED.

[168] For the founding of Sitka see our volume vi, p. 258, note 68.—ED.

[169] Lopez Island, between Rosario Straits and Canal de Haro.—ED.

[170] Bishop Blanchet had previously visited Whidbey Island; see _ante_,

p. 120. The Skagit Indians were a tribe of Salishan origin inhabiting

the territory in the neighborhood of Skagit Bay and on the river of that

name. In 1855 they took part in the treaty of Point Elliott, and were

assigned to the Swinomish Reservation at the mouth of Skagit River. The

Indians on this reservation number about two hundred and fifty; they are

partly civilized, wear civilized dress, speak English, hold allotted

lands, and are largely members of the Roman Catholic church.—ED.

[171] For the origin of this name see our volume vi, p. 233, note 36.—ED.

[172] For the Clatsop see our volume vi, p. 239, note 39. The American

with them was probably either Solomon H. Smith, or Calvin Tibbitts, who

both lived at Clatsop Plains, having crossed the continent with Wyeth;

see Wyeth’s _Oregon_, our volume xxi, p. 73, note 50.—ED.

[173] James Birnie (Burney), for whom see Townsend’s _Narrative_ in our

volume xxi, p. 361, note 130.—ED.

[174] See descriptions of this form of entombment in our volume xxi, p.

338; also in _Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition_, iii,

pp. 260, 326.—ED.

[175] This was the building on the site of the present city of Salem,

which was erected in 1842 by Jason Lee for the Indian mission school

formerly conducted in a log house twelve miles below. The mission school

had suffered reverses from illness and the loss of missionary leaders,

and Rev. George Gary had arrived in Oregon May 1, 1844, to close up the

affairs of the entire Methodist mission. The building for the school,

which had with the surrounding land cost nearly $10,000 became the

property of the Oregon Institute, which opened a school therein in the

autumn of this year (1844). This subsequently became the nucleus of

Willamette University, chartered in 1853.—ED.

[176] The site was about three miles above Champoeg, not far from the

residence of Etienne Lucier, one of the earliest settlers of French

Prairie.—ED.

[177] For a sketch of this missionary see De Smet’s _Letters_ in our

volume xxvii, p. 193, note 69.—ED.

[178] The mission or residence at this point was known as St. Francis

Xavier. The convent was, however, entitled St. Mary’s or Notre Dame, from

the convent at Namur, whence the sisters set forth.—ED.

[179] Chittenden and Richardson, _De Smet_, ii, p. 453, give “Oregon

City” as the alternative of this native village. Consultation with Oregon

historians, however, gives no support to this theory—the term “Cuhute”

never having been applied to the locality of Oregon City during the

residence, or within the knowledge of white settlers. George H. Himes of

Portland, after interviewing several pioneers, writes us: “I conclude

that the village referred to by De Smet was the name of a village

belonging to a small sub-tribe of Indians in the vicinity of the present

town of St. Paul, Marion County, which was annihilated by the disease

already alluded to.”—ED.

[180] This letter enclosed those following, numbered iv-xv, in the last

of which De Smet says that he is sending a packet of letters by the

Hudson’s Bay brigade from Columbia, which he has just encountered.—ED.

[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.

The Porteurs (Carriers) are described in De Smet’s _Letters_ in our

volume xxvii, p. 307, note 160. Consult G. M. Dawson “The Shuswap

People,” in Royal Society of Canada _Transactions_, ix, part ii,

pp. 3-44; A. G. Morice, “The Western Dénés” in Canadian Institute

_Proceedings_, 3d series, vol. 7, pp. 109-120; and Franz Boas, in

_Report_ of British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1890, pp.

642-647.—ED.

[191] The Stelatin dwelt on the western end of Fraser Lake; the Nashkutin

(Nashkoten) on and about Blackwater River; the Chilcotin (Tchilkoten) on

a river of that name [see note 102 (Farnham), _ante_, p. 81,] and the

Nakasletin (Nazeteoten) on Stuart Lake.—ED.

[192] Brother J. B. McGean (McGill) was an Irishman, who went to the

mission field with Fathers Peter De Vos and Adrian Hoeken in 1843. In

1854 he was at St. Ignatius mission where he was farm superintendent.—ED.

[193] Father de Smet and his Indians followed the aboriginal trail across

the Cascades, which afterwards became the foundation of the Barlow

Road. See “History of the Barlow Road,” in Oregon Historical Society

_Quarterly_, iii, pp. 71-81. For Mount Hood see our volume vi, p. 248,

note 54.—ED.

[194] For Captain Nathaniel Wyeth and his expeditions to Oregon, see

our volume xxi, preface, and p. 23, note 3. This quotation, which is

not verbatim, is taken from Wyeth’s _Memoir_, published in _Reports of

Committees_, 25 Cong., 3 sess., no. 101, p. 11.—ED.

[195] For the Nez Percé Indians see our volume vi, p. 340, note 145.

While closely related the Cayuse are thought by modern ethnologists to be

a separate language stock, although they also spoke the Nez Percé tongue.

See our volume vii, p. 137, note 37.—ED.

[196] Now known as Kettle Falls; see our volume vi, p. 346, note 153.—ED.

[197] For the first two tribes see De Smet’s _Letters_ in our volume

xxvii, p. 319, notes 161, 162. The Zingomenes are the Spokan (see Father

de Smet’s letter in Chittenden and Richardson, _De Smet_, iii, p. 801),

for whom see our volume vi, p. 341, note 146. Kalispel is an alternative

for the Pend d’Oreille, noted in our volume xxvii, p. 141, note 8 (De

Smet).—ED.

[198] The salmon of the Pacific coast rivers comprises five species of

one genus, _Oncorhyncus_: _O. chavicha_, the quinnat or King salmon; _O.

nerke_, the blue-backed salmon; _O. kisutch_, the silver salmon; _O.

keta_, the dog salmon; and _O. gorbusha_, the hump-backed salmon. The

sixth variety noted may be the _Salmo gairdneri_, or steelhead salmon

trout.—ED.

[199] The residence or mission of St. Francis Regis is in the Colville

valley, about seven and a half miles from the present town of Colville.

On his next visit De Smet found settled in the vicinity about seventy

Canadian métis, or half breeds. The station does not appear to have

been continuous, but to have been re-established after the Indian wars

(1847-56). Later it became a flourishing mission, with schools for boys

and girls, and was frequently visited by Spokan and Colville Indians from

the neighboring reservations. For the Cree see J. Long’s _Voyages_ in our

volume ii, p. 168, note 75.—ED.

[200] The Flatbows (Arcs à plats), in the use made of the term by De

Smet, signify that branch of the Kutenai stock that is now known as the

Lower Kutenai; by “Kootenay” the author designates the Upper branch of

the tribal stock. They differ slightly in customs and dialects, as well

as in habitat, the Lower Kutenai being partly in the United States;

the Upper almost wholly in British Columbia. For a scientific study of

this stock see Dr. A. F. Chamberlain in _Report_ of British Association

for the Advancement of Science, 1892, pp. 549-614; see also De Smet’s

_Letters_ in our volume xxvii, p. 357, note 180.—ED.

[201] Lake Pend d’Oreille, in northern Idaho; for which see De Smet’s

_Letters_ in our volume xxvii, p. 339, note 175.—ED.

[202] For a brief biographical sketch of Peter Skeen Ogden see Townsend’s

_Narrative_ in our volume xxi, p. 314, note 99. For an account of De

Smet’s journey with Ogden in 1842, see the former’s _Letters_ in our

volume xxvii, pp. 373-377.—ED.

[203] These officers were Captain Henry J. Warre, nephew and aide-de-camp

of Sir R. Downer Jackson, commandant of British forces in North America,

and Lieutenant M. Vavasour of the Royal Engineers. They had a commission

from the government, perhaps not as extensive as is reported by De Smet,

but doubtless ample in case of war. They were also secretly commissioned

by the Hudson’s Bay Company to report on Dr. McLoughlin’s attitude in

regard to the American settlers, and their adverse account was answered

by him in detail, after his resignation (1846). The two officers left

Montreal May 5, 1845, reporting at Fort Garry, whence they took the

overland route followed by Sir George Simpson in 1841, arriving at Fort

Colville August 12, three days after the meeting with De Smet in the

Idaho forests. Their appearance at Fort Vancouver nearly coincided with

that of the naval officers Park and Peel from the Pacific squadron.

Warre and Vavasour examined the country thoroughly, and made estimates

of the Indian tribes. See Robert M. Martin, _Hudson’s Bay Territories_

(London, 1849), p. 80. They visited Vancouver Island and Puget Sound,

the settlements on the Willamette and the mouth of the Columbia, making

drawings and sketches of several places visited. They remained at Fort

Vancouver during the winter of 1845-46 assisting at the festivities

inaugurated by the officers of the “Modeste” (see Palmer’s _Journal_ in

our volume xxx, note 189), and left for England via the spring brigade.

They mention meeting Father de Smet seven days from Boat Encampment

on the return journey. Arriving in Liverpool August 12, 1846, Captain

Warre prepared for the press _Sketches in North America and the Oregon

Territory_ (London, 1849), a copy of which is in the Portland public

library. Captain Warre had been in Canada since 1839; on his return to

England he received the thanks of the colonial secretary, Earl Grey, for

his arduous services during his journey to the West on “special duty.”

Later he commanded the 57th regiment in the Crimean War and in New

Zealand, 1861-66, becoming lieutenant general in 1877, and dying in 1898.

He is the author of _Sketches in the Crimea_ (London, 1856); he also

wrote _Historical Records of the 57 regiment of foot_ (London, 1878.)—ED.

[204] Doubtless De Smet followed the well-known Indian trail which David

Thompson called the “Great Road of the Flatheads,” reaching Kootenai

River about on the border between Idaho and Montana, where was built a

North West Company house, later abandoned. See Thompson’s description of

the road in Elliott Coues (ed.) _New Light on the Early History of the

Greater Northwest_ (New York, 1897), ii, p. 673; also the accompanying

map by Thompson.—ED.

[205] The wappato (_sagittaria latifolia_) was an important article of

food for the Northwest Indians. See descriptions of its gathering and

preparation in _Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition_,

index. The flower of the bitterroot (_Lewisia rediviva_) has been chosen

as the Montana state flower; it gives name both to the river and to a

range of mountains in that state. The biscuit root was probably what is

known as the white-apple or prairie potato (_Psoralea esculenta_), a

food-root widely spread in North America. See our volume xxi, p. 248,

note 62.—ED.

[206] On the camas see our volume xxi, p. 247, note 61.—ED.

[207] _Evernia vulpina_, still used for food by the Kutenai.—ED.

[208] Kootenai Lake, in eastern British Columbia, is an enlargement of

the river of the same name, seventy-five miles in length and with a width

of from two to five miles. The river enters at the southern end, and

leaves the lake about midway of its length opposite Pilot Bay.—ED.

[209] Edward Berland, a Hudson’s Bay Company employe, aided Sir George

Simpson on his voyage around the world in 1841. See his curious autograph

reproduced in Simpson, _Narrative_, i, p. 125.—ED.

[210] Known as Kootenai River Traverse, located in the neighborhood of

the present Fort Steele. See Simpson’s description of its passage in his

_Narrative_, pp. 137, 138.—ED.

[211] De Smet is passing up the Kootenai River in its course through

Montana, following the line of the present Great Northern Railway, which

leaves Kootenai valley at Jennings, where the river coming from the north

makes an abrupt turn to the west. A recently-built branch of this railway

extends from Jennings along the upper Kootenai into British Columbia.—ED.

[212] Probably the Yaac River, a considerable mountain tributary of the

Kootenai, in northwestern Montana. De Smet may, however, refer to some

small stream that enters the main river near Kootenai Falls, some ten or

twelve miles above the embouchment of the Yaac. David Thompson called the

Kootenai, McGillivray River, in honor of the Hon. William McGillivray,

one of the North West Company partners.—ED.

[213] De Smet was an observant traveller. The mineral wealth of Flathead

County, Montana (through which he was passing), has not yet been

developed; but galena ore bearing both lead and silver has been found,

and considerable quantities of coal and oil are known to exist in that

district. See _Report_ of Great Northern Railway, 1902.—ED.

[214] Tobacco Plains are situated on both sides of the international

boundary, taking their name from Tobacco River, a Montana affluent of the

Kootenai. This has for many years been the habitat of one division of the

Upper Kutenai, known as Agkanegunik (people of the Tobacco Plains). David

Thompson visited and traded there in 1808. A British Columbia branch

of this tribe still has a reservation of 2,560 acres just north of the

international boundary, where a band of fifty-seven was in 1902 employed

in farming and cattle-raising. The Kutenai of to-day are all Roman

Catholics.—ED.

[215] For Flathead (Tête plat) Lake see De Smet’s _Letters_ in our volume

xxvii, p. 359, note 181.—ED.

[216] From Tobacco Plains De Smet advanced up the valley of the upper

Kootenai, towards the portage near the headwaters of the Columbia. This

valley runs between the main range of the Rockies and the Selkirks, among

some of the most majestic scenery on the North American continent.—ED.

[217] Taken from a composition of De Smet’s on his second journey to

the Rocky Mountains (1841), and then applied to the heights around the

sources of the Platte. See Chittenden and Richardson, _De Smet_, iv, pp.

1353, 1354.—ED.

[218] These are Upper Columbia and Windermere lakes, the former 2,700

feet above sea level, and the ultimate source of the Columbia River.

The river is navigable from Lake Windermere as far as Golden, where the

Canadian Pacific Railway crosses, and steamers ply the course of about

160 miles. The passage from one lake to the other is possible only for

canoes. This region was first explored by David Thompson in 1807.—ED.

[219] These are composed of gravelly flats, the great spawning beds of

the Columbia salmon. At times steamboat navigation is impeded by the

immense number of the fish.—ED.

[220] The Hot Springs—one of a temperature of 120°, the other of 90°

Fahrenheit—issue from natural basins of their own formation, on the side

of a cliff just below Upper Columbia Lake.—ED.

[221] Richard Chandler (1738-1810), an English antiquary, undertook an

exploring expedition to Asia Minor and Greece (1765) under the auspices

of the English Dilettanti Society. The results were published as _Travels

in Asia Minor_ (London, 1775), both sufficiently popular to run through

several editions. The author particularly mentions the famous Hot Springs

of the ancient Hierapolis, whose site is now known as Kambuk Kalessi,

on the Mæander River in Phrygia, and describes their incrustations and

stalactites. For the famous geographer Conrad Malte-Brun see our volume

xviii, p. 345, note 136.—ED.

[222] The portage from Kootenai River (Arcs-à-plats) to Upper Columbia

Lake is but a mile and a half in length, over a level trail of rich

black soil now known as Kootenai Flat. There is little doubt that the

upper Columbia once drained this way into the Kootenai River, which now,

however, is slightly higher than the source of the Columbia. A canal has

been projected across the portage, but it is not yet completed.—ED.

[223] For the Shushwap see our volume vii, p. 159, note 52.—ED.

[224] Vermillion River, one of the headstreams of the Kootenai, rises in

the great group of the Rockies, near the foot of Mount Biddle, west of

Laggan, on the Canadian Pacific Railway, and flows southeasterly until

uniting with the Beaverfoot to form the Kootenai. See “Sketch map of the

Canadian Rocky Mountains” in James Outram, _In the Heart of the Canadian

Rockies_ (New York, 1905).—ED.

[225] De Smet is not sufficiently precise in his topography to make it

certain by which pass he crossed the Rocky Mountain divide. Probably it

was that over which Sir George Simpson made his way to the westward in

1841, now known as Simpson Pass (elevation 6,884 feet). It comes out

in the neighborhood of Banff on the Canadian Pacific Railway, in the

valley of Bow River, a tributary of the South Saskatchewan. See Simpson,

_Narrative_, i, pp. 118-121.—ED.

[226] The Saskatchewan, with its two great branches, North and South,

drains a large portion of the vast plain lying between the Rocky

Mountains and the lake region of Manitoba, and enters Lake Winnipeg in

latitude 53° 10′, longitude 99° 20′ west. Nelson River enters Hudson Bay

near the fifty-seventh parallel of north latitude.—ED.

[227] Bow River (des Arcs) is the northern branch of the South

Saskatchewan. It rises in the Rocky Mountains above Laggan, flowing east

and southeast until its junction with Belly River near longitude 111°

30′; these two then form the great South Saskatchewan. The name Rivière

des Arcs is thought to have been given from its course, as it was first

applied to the entire South Saskatchewan which takes a crescent course.

More probably it arose from its frequent curves or “ox-bows,” especially

in the upper reaches, above Banff. The earliest explorers of this

stream were the French, who under Lieutenant de Niverville, sent out by

Legardeur de St. Pierre (1752), erected Fort La Jonquière not far from

the modern town of Calgary. David Thompson explored Bow River valley for

the North West Company in 1800. The upper Bow is now the route of the

Canadian Pacific Railway.—ED.

[228] The Blackfeet are noted in our volume v, p. 225, note 120, and

described in more detail by Maximilian in his _Travels_, our volume

xxiii, pp. 95-122. They range into the northern part of Montana in

the United States, but their usual habitat is the great plain of the

Saskatchewan in the provinces of Alberta and Assiniboia.—ED.

[229] For the Assiniboin see our volume ii, p. 168, note 75. The

Assiniboin were wandering Indians grouped into many bands under separate

chiefs. Early in the nineteenth century those of the woods and foothills

of the Rockies became differentiated from the Assiniboin of the Plains,

and were usually denominated Stoney Indians. These latter were in two

bands, the Thickwood and Mountain Stoney, with dialects differing

considerably from the Assiniboin of the Plains. Their characteristics

were also different, they being more peaceable and inoffensive than their

Eastern relatives. They were very poor, nevertheless were good hunters

and energetic workers, many of them acting as guides especially in the

explorations connected with the Canadian Pacific Railway surveys. First

visited by Wesleyan missionaries as early as 1840, they now are largely

members of that denomination. A band of about six hundred live on a

reservation on Bow River near Morley, forty miles west of Calgary, not

far from the region in which they were encountered by De Smet.—ED.

[230] The Assiniboin of the Plains had been decimated by small-pox in

1838; while still a numerous tribe, they were reduced from 1,000 to 400

thinly-populated lodges. They had somewhat recovered, doubtless, before

Father de Smet’s journey.—ED.

[231] Red Deer River rises in the Sawback Range, nearly east of Laggan,

and flowing east and southeast through the plains of Alberta empties into

the South Saskatchewan in Assiniboia, just east of the hundred and tenth

meridian.—ED.

[232] Snake Country (Pays Serpent) was the term applied by the Hudson’s

Bay Company to the area drained by Snake (or Lewis) River, the home of

the Shoshoni (or Snake) Indians.—ED.

[233] These tribes have all been previously noted—by “Kants” being meant

the Kansa; by “Saucs” the Sac; and by “Ajouas” the Iowa.—ED.

[234] See De Smet’s _Letters_ in our volume xxvii, p. 391, note 213.—ED.

[235] Jean Baptiste Thibault went as a missionary to the Red River

country in 1833, and travelled widely in the great Northwest, visiting

the Hudson’s Bay posts and founding missions for both half-breeds and

Indians from Manitoba to New Caledonia. His colleague, Joseph Bourassa,

was engaged in the same work from 1844 to 1856.—ED.

[236] For these rivers see our volume vi, p. 354, with accompanying

note. The mission at St. Ann, in Alberta about fifty miles west of Fort

Edmonton, was later in charge of the Oblate Fathers, headed by Father La

Combe.—ED.

[237] The last four tribes belong to the great Athapascan, Déné, or

Tinneh stock, whose northern division occupies the northernmost interior

of the American continent. The names here given (probably translated

from French) are intended for the Beaver, Dogrib, Slave and Hare (or

Hare-skin) tribes. In general terms their habitat may be described as

follows: the Beaver upon Peace River; the Dogrib between Great Slave and

Great Bear lakes; the Slaves west of Great Slave Lake, upon Mackenzie

and Liard rivers; the Hares on the Mackenzie, Hare, Indian, and Anderson

rivers. See A. G. Morice, in Canadian Institute _Proceedings_, 1889,

pp. 109-174. These Indians still rove the great northern lands, little

affected by contact with whites.—ED.

[238] These are all fur-trading posts, most of which De Smet had visited.

They have been described in previous volumes of our series, as follows:

Fort Corbeaux (Crow), or Alexander, our volume xxvii, p. 146, note 12

(De Smet); Laramie (La Ramee), xxi, p. 181, note 30; Union, xxii, p.

373, note 349; Mandan, or Clark (near Big Knife, not Little Missouri),

xxii, p. 344, note 317; Pierre, xxii, p. 315, note 277; Lookout, xxii,

p. 304, note 261; Vermillion, xxvii, p. 153, note 22 (De Smet); fort at

Council Bluffs, xxii, p. 275, note 231; and Bellevue, xxii, p. 267, note

221. Fort Osage, originally a government post on the Missouri (not the

Osage), was abandoned in 1827; see our volume v, p. 60, note 31. Probably

De Smet here refers to the trading post at the Osage villages on Osage

River, in what is now Kansas. Fort Pied-Noir (Blackfoot), or Lewis, was

the successor of Fort Mackenzie (for which see our volume xxiii, p. 87,

note 75), destroyed in 1844. Fort Lewis was built (1845) by Alexander

Culbertson some distance above the old fort at the mouth of Maria’s

River, on the south bank of the Missouri, eighteen miles above the

present city of Fort Benton, Montana; see account of founding in Montana

Historical Society _Contributions_, iii, pp. 241-243 (note, however, that

the dates in these reminiscences are quite unreliable). Fort Lewis, named

for the explorer, Captain Meriwether Lewis, was abandoned in 1846 for

the site of Fort Benton—the new post, however, retaining the name Lewis

until about 1850. Fort Berthold, in McLean County, North Dakota, on the

Indian reservation of that name, one hundred and twenty-five miles above

Bismarck, was built as an American Fur Company post in 1845, and named

for Bartholomew Berthold, one of the partners of that corporation. An

opposition post (erected in 1859) was bought out in 1862, and the effects

and name transferred thither. This new stockade was nearly captured

by the Sioux in December, 1862. Two years later it was converted into

a military post, but the soldiers being withdrawn (1867) the fort was

thereafter maintained as an Indian agency, until accidentally burned in

1874; all vestiges have now disappeared. See engraving of its former

appearance in O. D. Wheeler, _Trail of Lewis and Clark_ (New York, 1904),

i, p. 276.—ED.

[239] Right Reverend Mathias Loras was born in Lyons, France, in 1792.

At the age of twenty-six he was ordained priest, and in 1829 came to the

United States with Bishop Portier of Mobile. He served in the latter city

until chosen (1839) first bishop of the newly-created see of Dubuque. Two

years later he visited Europe for recruits, returning with two priests

and four deacons. Bishop Loras died at Dubuque in 1858. In 1841 he sent

Augustine Ravoux, one of the deacons who had reinforced his mission

(ordained priest in 1840), to visit the traders in what is now Minnesota,

and attempt the founding there of a Sioux mission; he was accompanied by

Father Lucien Galtier. The latter built a chapel on the site of St. Paul,

and gave the infant settlement its name, but in 1844 he was removed,

dying in 1866 at Prairie du Chien. Father Ravoux made many missionary

journeys over his wide territory—in 1845 to Fort Vermillion, in 1847 to

Fort Pierre—and established an incipient Sioux mission. The withdrawal of

Galtier made it imperative for Ravoux to devote himself to the care of

the Catholic communicants of his wide diocese. See his _Reminiscences and

Memoirs_ (St. Paul, 1890). He was still living in 1904.—ED.

[240] For the Potawatomi mission see De Smet’s _Letters_ in our volume

xxvii, p. 156, note 26. Its first site in Kansas was as here stated;

later (1848) it was removed to Kansas River, and during the early

settlement was well known as St. Mary’s Mission—afterwards, simply St.

Mary’s. The mission school was continued until 1869. A town of this name

is in the southeastern corner of Pottawatomie County.—ED.

[241] Several posts of the Hudson’s Bay Company were known as the

Rocky Mountain House; but this one, upon the North Saskatchewan, had

no other name. It was founded in 1802 by the North West Company, and

David Thompson was in charge 1806-07, making thence his first expedition

west of the mountains. It was located about a mile and a half above

the mouth of the Clearwater, on the south bank of the Saskatchewan.

See _Explorations by Captain John Palliser_ (London, 1863), pp. 74-77,

descriptive of the expedition sent by the government in 1857-59.—ED.

[242] For the Sauteux see J. Long’s _Voyages_, in our volume ii, p. 79,

note 38. The Chippewa are the most numerous tribe of the Algonquian

stock, large numbers being still found in both Canada and the United

States, with a range nearly as wide as De Smet here gives them. In

the United States, however, their habitat never extended much beyond

Minnesota, where they were met by their hereditary enemies, the Dakota

(or Sioux). In Canada, their alliance with the Cree gave them a farther

westward range, and they occasionally traded at Fort Edmonton on the

upper Saskatchewan.—ED.

[243] George A. de Belcourt arrived in the Red River country in 1831, and

spent twenty-eight years as a missionary in this territory, officiating

also at Pembina under commission from Bishop Loras of Dubuque. The

Chippewa mission here mentioned was situated on Winnipeg River, at a

place whose native name was Wabassimong. In 1846, the Oblate Father

Aubert was placed in charge; but lack of success rendered it necessary

to abandon the mission the following year. The log church which had

been erected was used some years later by Protestant missionaries.

See Alexandre Taché, _Vingt Années de Missions dans le Nord-Ouest de

l’Amérique_ (Montreal, 1866).—ED.

[244] This was the half-breed known as Bird, whose treachery toward

Antoine Godin at Fort Hall, Idaho, is narrated by Townsend in our volume

xxi, pp. 353, 354; see also our volume xxiii, pp. 135, 145, 153.—ED.

[245] This band of Blackfeet, which took its name from an important

chief, was mentioned by George Catlin in 1832, being said to consist of

two hundred and fifty lodges. Father de Smet says that they were almost

entirely destroyed. Charles Larpenteur, however, mentions this band as on

the war path against the Flatheads in 1848; see his _Forty Years a Fur

Trader_ (New York, 1898), ii, pp. 259-261.—ED.

[246] John Rowand was born at Montreal and entered the North West Company

as a clerk in 1800. He was in charge at Fort Augustus for many years

and there was born his son who became widely known in Northwest annals.

Educated at Montreal and Edinburgh, he travelled abroad before returning

to the Northwest, where he was for many years a chief factor of the

company. He accompanied Sir George Simpson on his journey of 1841, and in

1848 retired from active service, settling in Quebec, where he died in

1889. See _Henry-Thompson Journals_, ii, pp. 602, 603; and Chittenden and

Richardson, _De Smet_, iv. pp. 1559-1561.—ED.

[247] For Fort Edmonton (or Fort Augustus) see our volume vi, p. 364,

note 177. A nearly contemporary description may be found in Simpson,

_Narrative_, i, pp. 101, 102.—ED.

[248] For Fort Jasper see our volume vi, p. 357, note 167.

Assiniboine House was built in 1825 on the north side of Athabasca River,

in northern Alberta; the place is now abandoned and ruined. See Alexander

Ross, _Fur Hunters of the Far West_ (London, 1855), ii, p. 204.

Lesser Slave Lake House, at the western end of the lake, was built by

Alexander Stuart of the North West Company early in the nineteenth

century.—ED.

[249] For Fort des Montagnes see _ante_, p. 234, note 128.

Fort Pitt was established in 1831, not far below old Fort Vermillion,

about half way between Carlton and Edmonton, on the south bank of the

Saskatchewan, about a hundred yards from the river. See description of

its appearance in 1859, in Earl of Southesk, _Saskatchewan and the Rocky

Mountains_ (Edinburgh, 1875), pp. 139-142, 285-292.

Fort Carlton (Carrollton) was the Hudson’s Bay post replacing the old

Fort de la Montée, for which see our volume vi, p. 374, note 185. Sir

George Simpson well describes its appearance in 1841 in his _Narrative_,

i, p. 84. For Cumberland House see our volume vi, p. 376, note 188.—ED.

[250] The Lake of the Black Eagle does not appear to be charted, but the

entire country between Forts Edmonton and Assiniboine abounds in lakes.

This route was followed by Ross in 1825; see his _Fur Hunters_, ii, pp.

205, 209.—ED.

[251] For the Pembina see our volume vi, p. 364, note 177. It is not

feasible to identify all these affluents of the upper Athabasca. Next

to Pembina, the largest of those mentioned is McLeod (McCloud) River, a

southern branch coming in some fifty miles above old Fort Assiniboine.

The Baptiste (the additional word Berland has been dropped) flows from

the west, entering the Athabasca where it bends to the east.—ED.

[252] Of the two lakes at the headwaters of the Athabasca, both are

sometimes called Jasper, but the lower one was more frequently known as

Burnt (or Brulé) Lake. For these and Jasper House see our volume vi, p.

357, note 167.—ED.

[253] The names of these streams appear to change frequently. The

Violin is now known as Fiddle River; it debouches from the south, near

the upper end of Brulé Lake. Medicine appears to be identical with the

stream called Rocky River, coming from very near the source of the North

Saskatchewan. The Assiniboine is now usually called Snake Indian River;

it takes its name from a small tribe that frequented its banks, who were

totally exterminated early in the nineteenth century by a fierce band of

Assiniboin.—ED.

[254] The Maligne is a large stream coming from the south, not far from

the source of the Brazeau. Gens de Colets is now known as Snaring River;

it enters the Athabasca some miles above Jasper Lake. The Miette comes

from the west and joins the Athabasca at its abrupt turn from north to

east. The trail to Yellowhead Pass follows up the Miette, while that to

Athabasca Pass follows the main Athabasca River, to the Trou (or Hole),

more frequently Whirlpool River.—ED.

[255] The Boucane is now Smoky River, the largest southwest affluent of

Peace (a la Paix) River.—ED.

[256] For Fraser River see Farnham’s _Travels_, _ante_, p. 43, note 52.

A small branch of the Miette approaches within a few rods, on the summit

of Yellowhead Pass of the upper source of the Fraser, running thence into

Yellowhead, and sixteen miles lower down Moose Lake, whence issues the

main Fraser.—ED.

[257] For the Carrier Indians, see our volume xxvii, p. 307, note 160.

They are the main branch of the Déné (Tinneh) stock, in British Columbia.

See Rev. A. G. Morice, “Are the Carrier Sociology and Mythology exotic?”

in Canadian Royal Society _Transactions_, x, part ii, pp. 109-120, with

map giving location of the tribes of New Caledonia.

By the Achiganes, De Smet probably intends the Sekanais (Tsekenné), who

inhabit the western slopes of the Rockies from latitude 54° to 60°.

They are a nomadic people of the Déné stock, lacking houses, villages,

or social organization. Despising fish, they subsist on game and roots.

Numbering about two hundred souls, they now exist in two wandering bands

in the Babine and Upper Skeena River agency, Hoquelget division, British

Columbia.—ED.

[258] The Montagnais are a branch of the great Athapascan (or Déné) stock

of northern Indians. By some authorities they are identified with the

Chippewyan; others consider them the western branch of the Chippewyan

tribe—De Smet uses the term in the first sense. The Chippewyan still rove

in their ancient habitat on Athabasca lake and river. The majority of the

tribe has been christianized by Catholic missionaries.—ED.

[259] Lake Athabasca, in the northern portion of the territory of that

name, is the outlet of Athabasca River, and extends 190 miles in length

and from five to fifty-five in width. It discharges by Slave River into

Great Slave Lake, thence through the Mackenzie into the Arctic Ocean.

Fort Chippewyan, upon the shore of Lake Athabasca, was one of the

earliest trading posts erected by the English in the Northwest. Thence

Sir Alexander Mackenzie made his famous explorations (1789-93).—ED.

[260] The Oblate monk was Alexandre Antoine Taché, later archbishop of

St. Boniface on the Red River, and the priest Father L. Laflèche. Father

Thibault had visited all the Athabascan district in the summer of 1844,

preparing the way for permanent mission stations. Reporting to Bishop

Provencher at Winnipeg, the latter sent the two missionaries to found a

central station at Ile à la Crosse (largely frequented by Crees), whence

stations were later established at Cariboo Lake and Lake Athabasca.

Father Laflèche came to the Red River country in 1844, remaining at Ile

à la Crosse until 1849, when infirmities led him to retire. Elected

coadjutor for Bishop Provencher, he declined the responsibility, but

served as vicar general until 1856.

Taché was Canadian born (1823); educated at Montreal, he joined the

Oblate order, and (1845) volunteered for mission service on the frontier.

Arrived at Red River, he was ordained priest, and sent (July, 1846) to

found the mission at Ile à la Crosse, whence he made journeys to the

distant tribes of the Northwest. Elected coadjutor bishop in 1849, he

visited Europe, being two years later consecrated in France. Returning to

Canada, he went back to his mission, whence he was summoned to Winnipeg

by the death of Bishop Provencher (1853). Taché was an important figure

in the Canadian Northwest, being profoundly interested for the material

and spiritual welfare of the Indians and half-breeds. He interceded

with the Dominion government for the latter’s grievances in 1869, and

after the Riel rebellion was useful in restoring harmony. Raised to an

archbishopric in 1871, he ably administered his diocese until his death

in 1894.

See his own account of his early missionary experiences in _Vingt Années

de Missions dans le Nord-Ouest de l’Amérique_.—ED.

[261] Paul, son of Simon Fraser the explorer (for whom see Farnham’s

_Travels_, _ante_, p. 43, note 52), was born in Glengarry, Ontario, in

1799. He entered the Hudson’s Bay Company as early as 1827, or before,

and in the following year was chief clerk in charge at Fort Vermillion,

when Sir George Simpson passed that way. In 1833 he was a senior clerk

at Fort McLeod, giving his principal attention to New Caledonia where

he was a chief trader before 1844. He built Fort Umpqua in Oregon, and

was stationed there for some time. In 1850 he resigned from the Northern

department and was sent to Fort Kamloops, where not long afterwards he

was killed by the fall of a tree.—ED.

[262] There is an Island Lake on the Sturgeon River chain, not far

from Lake Ann, but De Smet’s topography is too indefinite to insure

identification.—ED.

[263] La Fourche du Trou (Fork of the Hole), better known as Whirlpool

River, is that branch of the Athabasca that descends from the Committee’s

Punch Bowl on the summit of Athabasca Pass. The first appellation is

given because of a peculiar rock formation by which it enters the other

branch of the Athabasca through a rocky channel or hole. See our volume

vi, p. 353.—ED.

[264] By reference to Letter iii, _ante_, pp. 170-172, it will be seen

that all the succeeding letters to this point were enclosed with that

accompanying them, and forwarded by the usual Columbia brigade, which De

Smet met at this point of his journey.—ED.

[265] For a brief sketch of York Factory see our volume vi, p. 377, note

191.—ED.

[266] For Francis Ermatinger see our volume xxvii, p. 235, note 108.—ED.

[267] This river has various names, by some called Portage, and by others

Little Canoe, since it enters the Columbia at its great northern bend,

just where the Canoe River coming from the north also joins it. This

westward-flowing mountain torrent—first discovered by David Thompson in

1810-11—issues from a small lake at the summit of the pass, within a few

rods of the Committee’s Punch Bowl.—ED.

[268] So named from Thompson’s camp, where he stopped to build canoes to

descend the Columbia. It became a noted site on the upper Columbia, where

horses or snow-shoes were exchanged for canoes or vice versa.—ED.

[269] For the two peaks here mentioned, see Farnham’s _Travels_, _ante_,

pp. 29, 30, notes 22, 23.—ED.

[270] The Dalles of the Dead was an especially dangerous place on the

upper Columbia. Probably they took their name from the sad fate of

a party who turned back from Boat Encampment in 1817. See Ross Cox,

_Adventures on the Columbia River_ (New York, 1832), p. 245.—ED.

[271] Alexander Ross in his _Fur Hunters_, ii, pp. 165-175, speaks of

paintings in red ochre upon a rock on Lower Arrow Lake, against which the

passing Indians shot their arrows in defiance of the tribes beyond. By

examining these arrows, the natives could tell what tribes have lately

passed. Doubtless from this custom the lakes have received their name.

They are wide spreads of the river, beautifully located, amid high cliffs

and peaks. Upper Arrow Lake is about thirty-three miles long and three

broad; the Lower is more tortuous, and slightly longer and narrower. The

distance between them is more nearly sixteen than six miles.—ED.

[272] For these two lakes see our volume xxvii, pp. 339, 359, notes 175,

181, respectively.—ED.

[273] Roothan was at that time father general of the Jesuit order; see

our volume xxvii, p. 155, note 25 (De Smet). The lake is now known as

Priest Lake, and Blackrobe River as Priest River, occupying a forest

reserve of that name in northwestern Idaho, with a like strip in

northeastern Washington.—ED.

[274] This portion of the river is fifteen miles south of the

international boundary line, and twenty-six above Kettle Falls. It is

known as the Little Dalles, the cañon being deep and narrow, without

bottom lands. See Thomas W. Symons, _Report of an Examination of the

Upper Columbia River_ (Washington, 1882), pp. 11-13.—ED.

[275] Lewes (according to H. H. Bancroft, John Lee; according to Father

Morice, Thomas) was an old North West Company man, who was now chief

factor in the Hudson’s Bay Company. He had been stationed both on

Mackenzie River and in New Caledonia, and came to Colville about 1845.

Offered chief command of the latter district the following year, he

declined because of ill-health. Soon afterwards resigning, he retired

to Australia, but ultimately returned and settled in the Red River

country.—ED.

[276] For Commodore Wilkes see Farnham’s _Travels_, _ante_, p. 72, note

88.—ED.

[277] For Fort Okanagan see our volume vi, p. 260, note 71.—ED.

[278] De Smet proceeded with his Indian guides up the valley of Okanagan

River and lake, crossed to the upper waters of the South Thompson, and

came out on Shuswap Lake, a large irregularly-formed body of water, a

gathering place for the tribes of that stock. See our volume vii, p. 159,

notes 51, 52.—ED.

[279] “Fort of the Sioushwaps” is Fort Kamloops, for which see our volume

vii, p. 199, note 64.—ED.

[280] See Farnham’s _Travels_, _ante_, p. 44, note 53.—ED.

[281] Fort George, situated at the confluence of the Nechaco with the

Fraser, was built by Simon Fraser in the autumn of 1807, and named in

honor of the reigning English monarch. Hugh Faries was the first officer

in charge. The fort stood in the midst of a hunting country, and was

noted for its fine furs. A Hudson’s Bay Company post is still maintained

at this place.—ED.

[282] Father de Smet ascended first the Nechaco to the embouchment of

Stuart River, then up that stream—whose native name is Nakasley or

Na’kaztle—to Stuart Lake, where is situated the capital of New Caledonia,

Fort St. James. See Farnham’s _Travels_, _ante_, p. 58, note 77.—ED.

[283] The mission at Fort St. James received no further visit after that

of Father de Smet’s successor, Father Nobili (1847), for twenty-one

years. In 1868 the order of Oblates sent two missioners thither who were

at the fort in the early summer, and soon after founded a permanent

mission thereat, of which Father Adrian G. Morice was for many years the

head. See his _History of the Northern Interior of British Columbia_, pp.

326-336.—ED.

[284] The Chilcotin are one of the four tribes of Western Déné, occupying

the valley of the river bearing their name. They are nearly related to

the Carrier in their customs and modes of life; but have always been more

turbulent, and difficult to control. The Hudson’s Bay Company built a

fort among them which was later abandoned because of the untrustworthy

character of the native population; see Farnham’s _Travels_, _ante_, p.

58, note 77. In 1864 they attacked the miners of the region, and the

consequent punitive expedition cost the Dominion government over $60,000.

They are now on reservations in their valley, being Roman Catholic

communicants and gradually becoming civilized.—ED.

[285] For the forts upon these lakes and their location, see Farnham’s

_Travels_, _ante_, pp. 56, 58, notes 68, 77.

Fort Babine—during the first years called Fort Kilmaurs—was built in 1822

on the north bank of the lake of that name. Pierre C. Pambrum and William

Connolly were the first traders in charge. The Babine Indians, so named

from the plug of wood worn by the women to enlarge the lower lip, were

loyal Hudson’s Bay people, and good hunters. There are still three bands

of this tribe dwelling near Babine Lake—one known as the Old Fort Babines

have a village in the vicinity of the first post, fourteen miles from the

foot of the lake, and accessible only by canoes.

The fort on Bear Lake was named Connolly, and established in 1826 for

the benefit of the northern Sekanais. The earliest post was built on an

island in the lake, and was the most northerly of the interior stations

of New Caledonia.—ED.

[286] The Shushwap (Atnahs) proper live on both branches of Thompson

River; the Okanagan, on the lake and river of that name. Lake Superior

(or the “Upper” Lake) is probably Upper Arrow Lake of the Columbia. The

Fountain of Fraser River (not Lake) is an Indian village known as Hulilp,

near the site of the modern Lillooet; probably the author intends by this

the whole tribe of Lillooets, a western branch of the Shushwap. The Knife

Indians are probably the Thompson (or Similkameen) branch of the Shushwap

stock, inhabiting the valley of Similkameen River and ranging thence to

the Thompson and Fraser. The six bands of Shushwap here named correspond

in part with the divisions given by G. M. Dawson in “The Shuswaps of

British Columbia,” in Canadian Royal Society _Transactions_, ix, part 2,

pp. 3-43.—ED.

[287] Peter H. Burnett was born in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1807. While

still young he moved with his parents to Missouri, where he engaged in

mercantile pursuits and began legal studies. Upon the introduction of

Senator Linn’s bill in Congress providing land for bona fide Oregon

settlers, Burnett determined to emigrate thither, and was chosen captain

of a large company, which set forth in 1843. Arrived in Oregon, he

settled first at Linnville, then at Tualatin Plains, where he took much

interest in the provisional government and was a member of its first

legislative committee (1844). The following year he was chosen judge of

the supreme court, and upon the establishment of territorial government

was appointed justice of the United States court. In 1848 he went to

California, where in 1850 he was elected first governor of the new state,

and later (1857-58) served as justice of the California supreme court.

Embarking in the banking business in San Francisco, he won eminence

as a financier, dying in his adopted home in 1894. He has related his

experiences in _Recollections and Opinions of an Old Pioneer_ (New York,

1880). He therein details his conversion to Catholicism, due chiefly to

conviction following the reading of controversial works. Going to Oregon

City, he was received into the church by Father Devos (June, 1846).

Dr. John E. Long was a native of England, being educated for a physician.

Emigrating to the United States in 1833, and to Oregon ten years later,

he acted as recorder of the first legislature of the provisional

government, but in 1846 was killed by an accident.—ED.

[288] Donald Manson, born in Scotland in 1800, entered the Hudson’s

Bay Company at the age of seventeen, and was sent out to York Factory.

Three years later, at Winnipeg, he met Dr. McLoughlin and in 1823

accompanied him to the Pacific department. At first assigned to an

exploring expedition under charge of Samuel Black, he reached Vancouver

January 6, 1825, and aided in completing its works. Two years later he

accompanied the expedition that founded Fort Langley, and was afterwards

sent to restore the trading post of old Fort George, at the mouth of

the Columbia. In 1829 Manson was placed in charge of Fort McLoughlin,

on Millbank Sound, and there remained for ten years, after which a

well-deserved furlough gave him the opportunity to revisit Scotland.

Returning to the Pacific, he was sent (1841) to succeed Samuel Black at

Kamloops, and to punish the latter’s murderers; the following year a like

task was assigned him at Stikeen. In 1844 Manson was placed in command

of New Caledonia, with headquarters at Fort St. James, a position ably

filled for fourteen years, when he retired from the service and settled

near Champoeg, in the Willamette valley, where he died January 7, 1880.

He married (1828) the daughter of Etienne Lucier, first settler of

French Prairie, and had a large family of children. See interview with

his daughter in Oregon Historical _Quarterly_, iv, p. 263; also Oregon

Pioneer Association _Transactions_, 1879, p. 56.—ED.

[289] For Fort Walla Walla see our volume xxi, p. 278, note 73. The clerk

in charge was William B. McBean (not McBride), an educated half-breed

born in 1790 on the eastern side of the Rockies. In 1825 he was a

subordinate at Fort Alexandria; from 1836 to 1842 in charge at Fort

Babine. Thence he was sent to Fort Connolly (1842), and next (1845)

succeeded Archibald McKinley at Walla Walla. He attained an unpleasant

notoriety in connection with the Whitman massacre, because of his

Catholic proclivities, and his tardiness in aiding the survivors; but

most of the charges against him were unfounded. In New Caledonia he had

a reputation for being despotic and wily, also somewhat fanatical in

religious matters.—ED.

[290] For the Lewis River see our volume vi, p. 277, note 86. The

crossing must have been made not far from the boundary line between Walla

Walla and Columbia counties on the south side of the river, and that

between Franklin and Whitman counties on the northern bank.—ED.

[291] The Paloos were a Shahaptian tribe, nearly related, as De Smet

says, to the Nez Percés. Their habitat was the north bank of Lewis River,

from the mouth of Palouse River to that of the Lewis. Lewis and Clark

called them “Palleotepellows,” and credited them with 1,600 souls. In

1854 there were five hundred extant in three bands. They took part in the

wars of 1855-58, but were thoroughly cowed by Colonel George Wright’s

invasion of their territory. In 1860 their agent reported that the

remnant of the tribe had intermarried and settled among the Nez Percés,

on the Lapwai reservation in Idaho, and after that their separate tribal

existence lapsed.—ED.

[292] Now known as Palouse River, the largest northern tributary of

the Lewis, below the Clearwater. Rising in eastern Idaho, it flows

west and then south—through a considerable cañon in its lower course,

forming falls over a hundred feet in height, about seven miles above its

confluence with the Lewis.—ED.

[293] For Spokane River, see our volume xxvii, p. 366, note 185. De Smet

probably crossed the river not far from the present city of Spokane.—ED.

[294] Of these two upper branches of the Cœur d’Alène, St. Joseph’s has

retained its name. Rising in the Bitter Root (not now called Pointed

Heart) Mountains it flows northwest into the southern arm of Cœur d’Alène

Lake. The St. Ignatius is now known as the Cœur d’Alène River; and

through its valley runs the Northern Pacific Railway. See our volume

xxvii, p. 365, note 184.—ED.

[295] Mrs. S. Parmentier of Brooklyn, a liberal donor to Father de Smet’s

missions, to whom the following letter is addressed.—ED.

[296] Apparently this was the present Blake’s Lake, in northern Spokane

County, which discharges by the West Branch into Little Spokane River.

No other lake north of Spokane River appears to answer to De Smet’s

description. Blake’s is about three miles long and a half mile wide, and

is in the forest region.—ED.

[297] Probably Spokane Falls, the site of the modern city of that

name.—ED.

[298] For the mission of Sacred Heart see our volume xxvii, p. 365, note

184. A sketch of Father Point is given in the same volume, p. 192, note

67; those of Father Joset and Brother Magri, _ante_, p. 139, note 42. For

a description and engraving of this mission as it appeared in 1853 see 35

Cong., 2 sess., _Senate Docs._, vol. 18, pp. 112-114.—ED.

[299] The Bitterroot Mountains, which the travellers were approaching by

way of Cœur d’Alène River, along which passed the Mullens road, and now

the Northern Pacific Railway.—ED.

[300] The river here called St. Francis Regis is the same as St. Regis

Borgia, for which see note 71, _ante_, p. 174. De Smet advanced down that

stream to its junction with the Missoula, up the Missoula to St. Mary’s

(or Bitterroot) River thence to the mission, for which see our volume

xxvii, p. 282, note 145.—ED.

[301] For this Iroquois Indian see our volume xxvii, p. 230, note 104.—ED.

[302] The erection of the flour mill—the first in Montana—was due to

the mechanical skill of Father Antonio Ravalli, who arrived at St.

Mary’s mission in the autumn of 1845. The grinding stones, fifteen

inches in diameter, were brought from Europe, and are still preserved

as curiosities in the museum of the present St. Ignatius mission on the

Flathead reservation. See Palladino, _Indian and White in the Northwest_,

p. 46. The sawmill was made from wagon-tires, hammered and filed into a

saw and a crank.—ED.

[303] For the Snake (Shoshoni) Indians see our volume v, p 227, note 122;

the Bannock, xxi, p. 192, note 41; the Nez Percés, vi, p. 340, note 145;

the Blackfeet, v, p. 225, note 120; also our volume xxiii, pp. 95-122.—ED.

[304] For the Crows see our volume v., p. 226, note 121.—ED.

[305] For Victor see our volume xxvii, p. 251, note 126. Governor Isaac

Stevens said of him in 1853: “We have to-day seen a good deal of Victor

in our camp, the Flathead chief, celebrated in the book of De Smet. He

appears to be simple-minded, but rather wanting in energy, which might,

however, be developed in an emergency.”—35 Cong., 2 sess., _Senate

Docs._, vol. 18, p. 109.—ED.

[306] The party were marching up the Yellowstone along its southern

bank, to their left being the Snow Mountains, which extend just north of

Yellowstone National Park.—ED.

[307] For Hell Gate (Devil’s Gate) see our volume xxvii, p. 269, note

139.—ED.

[308] The foot of the Blackfoot forks is the mouth of Big Blackfoot

River, which rises in the main range of the Rockies and flows west for

about seventy-five miles into Hellgate River, about five miles above the

gorge called by that name. Up this stream is the “road that leads to the

buffalo,” going over Lewis and Clark Pass—the route which Captain Lewis

took on his return journey in 1806.—ED.

[309] Leaving to the left the Big Blackfoot River, and its easy pass

across the mountains, De Smet continued up Hellgate River and its upper

waters, Deer Lodge River (called by him Cart River). See our volume

xxvii, p. 253, note 130, which describes the journey made by De Smet in

1841.—ED.

[310] No stream named “Arrowstone” is now charted. De Smet passed from

the waters of the Columbia to those of the Missouri, by one of the

numerous low and easy gaps between Mullen’s on the north and Deer Lodge

on the south. Probably the party went over Cottonwood (or Peterson) Pass,

leading from Deer Lodge County into Jefferson, coming out upon Boulder

River, which empties into the Jefferson at Jefferson Island; or else

they followed the Silverbow route past the present Butte, and proceeded

by Big Pipestone Creek to the Jefferson—a route now used by the Montana

railways. All these were well-worn Indian trails.—ED.

[311] For a brief description of the Three Forks of the Missouri see our

volume xxiii, p. 138, note 114.—ED.

[312] See De Smet’s description of this route on his previous journey

(1841), in his _Letters_, our volume xxvii, p. 177, note 50.—ED.

[313] For the Wind River Mountains see our volume xxi, p. 134, note

35.—ED.

[314] The route lay almost directly north from the Yellowstone, along the

valley of what is now Shield’s River (named by Lewis and Clark for one of

their party), toward the sources of the Musselshell, the largest—with the

exception of the Yellowstone—southern tributary of the Missouri. See our

volume xxiii, p. 58, note 33.—ED.

[315] Probably the Elk Mountains, lying between the two forks of the

Musselshell in Meagher County, Montana.—ED.

[316] For the previous relations of De Smet with this chief see his

_Letters_ in our volume xxvii, pp. 317, 352.—ED.

[317] For the Piegan, one division of the Blackfeet, see Maximilian’s

_Travels_ in our volume xxiii, pp. 95-97.—ED.

[318] For this stream see our volume xxiii, p. 70, note 51. The camp was

probably upon one of the western affluents of the Judith, on the eastern

edge of the Little Belt Mountains.—ED.

[319] For the Blood Indians, a branch of the Blackfoot tribe, consult

our volume xxiii, pp. 95-97, especially note 84. The Grosventres of the

Prairie, likewise called Fall Indians, are noted in our volume vi, p.

371, note 183; also our volume xxiii, pp. 75, 76. By the Blackfeet—his

final category—De Smet intends that branch of the tribe known as

Siksekai, or Blackfeet proper. See Maximilian’s description in our volume

xxiii, pp 95, 96.—ED.

[320] Probably the missionary here mentioned was J. B. Thibault from Red

River, who travelled extensively in the Saskatchewan territory; see note

122, _ante_, p. 231.—ED.

[321] The trader was Charles Larpenteur, then in the employ of the

American Fur Company. He left Fort Union July 8, with one keel-boat and

later made a Mackinac boat en route. See his journal in Elliott Coues,

_Forty Years a Fur-Trader on the Upper Missouri_, ii, pp. 237-242.—ED.

[322] These tribes formed the Blackfoot confederacy, but the Sarcee

(Surcees) and Grosventres belonged to different stocks. For the former

see our volume xxiii, p. 90, note 77.—ED.

[323] Sata was at Fort Benton in 1847, and acted as guide to Larpenteur

in the latter’s effort to reach the Flathead country. Larpenteur calls

him a half-breed Blackfoot and Flathead; evidently his mother was of the

latter tribe. See _Forty Years a Fur-Trader_, pp. 272, 274.—ED.

[324] For the term “bourgeois” see our volume xxi, p. 183, note 33.

Larpenteur’s journal in _Forty Years a Fur-Trader_, ii, pp. 236-243,

explains why neither he nor Malcolm Clarke was at the fort when the

missionary arrived.—ED.

[325] For Maria’s River see our volume xxiii, p. 84, note 73. Little

Sandy Creek, twenty-three miles below Maria’s, rises on the western slope

of Bearpaw Mountain, and flows west and then south into the Missouri. For

Maximilian’s description of the natural stone walls see our volume xxiii,

pp. 71-83; also the representations in our atlas, volume xxv, Plates 18,

61, 68, and 74.—ED.

[326] For Porcupine River see our volume xxiii, p. 33, note 19. The

pyramid of elks’ horns is described in _ibid._, pp. 34, 35; and pictured

in our atlas, volume xxv, Plate 21. De Smet describes its later

destruction by a modern vandal, in Chittenden and Richardson, _De Smet_,

iv, p. 1372.—ED.

[327] For Fort Union see our volume xxii, pp. 373-383. James Kipp, who

had been at Fort Clark during Maximilian’s visit, was at this time in

charge of Fort Union. See biographical sketch in our volume xxii, p. 345,

note 319.—ED.

[328] Not the Grosventres of note 206, _ante_, but the Minitaree, also

called Grosventres (Big Bellies), for whom see our volume v, p. 113, note

76; also our volumes xxii, pp. 350, 359-363; xxiii, pp. 367-385. The

Minitaree removed to Fort Berthold in 1845.—ED.

[329] For Fort Berthold see _ante_, p. 233, note 125. The clerk in charge

was probably Jacques Brugière, a nephew of James Kipp, who for many years

was at Fort Union. In 1847-48 he entered into partnership with Charles

Larpenteur for a trading venture to the Flatheads, which did not prove

successful. Theophile Brugière was also an American Fur Company employe,

who lived and married among the Yankton Sioux, becoming later the first

settler on the site of Sioux City, Iowa.—ED.

[330] For Knife River see our volume xxii, p. 357, note 333.—ED.

[331] This post was evidently Fort Mandan (or Clark); see our volume

xxii, p. 344, note 317, also xxiii, pp. 228-236. Des Autel (D’Isotille)

was clerk at Fort Mackenzie in the early forties, and aided Chardon

and Harvey in the massacre at this post, which led to its abandonment,

whereupon all the principals concerned were sent to lower posts.

Larpenteur reports Des Autel (Des Hôtel) as being in charge of Fort Clark

in 1847.—ED.

[332] For the Arikara at the old Mandan village see our volume xxvii, p.

150, note 19 (De Smet).—ED.

[333] According to the translation from the French given in Chittenden

and Richardson, _De Smet_, ii, p. 607, the voyagers were delayed five

days by adverse winds, reaching the camp, October 26, in the neighborhood

of Butes au Grés (or Sandstone Buttes), not far from Bismarck, North

Dakota. Henry Goulet (Goulé) afterwards resided at Sioux City, and during

the Harney campaign (1856) obtained permission to construct ferries in

that neighborhood. See South Dakota Department of History _Collections_,

i, p. 417.—ED.

[334] For Fort Pierre see our volume xxii, p. 315, note 277, also pp.

317-321. For Honoré Picotte see our volume xxiv, p. 16, note 10.—ED.

[335] Fleury’s Island is now called Farm Island, about two and a half

miles long, and the same distance below Fort Pierre. The post where

De Smet tarried, known as Fort Bouis or Fort Defiance, was erected by

Harvey, Primeau and Company who were acting in opposition to the American

Fur Company. The trade was with the Brulé Sioux, and the post was located

on the west bank of the Missouri at the mouth of Medicine Creek. It had

been founded but a short time before De Smet’s visit, but was soon bought

out by the American Fur Company, being then abandoned.

For the Grande Detour (Big Bend) of the Missouri see our volume xxii, pp.

312, 313.—ED.

[336] For Fort Lookout see our volume xxii, p. 304, note 261. The

bourgeois in charge was Colin Campbell, one of the best interpreters of

the region, who had accompanied Joshua Pilcher on the Arikara expedition

of 1823, and long served in the American Fur Company’s employ. Chittenden

and Richardson, _De Smet_, ii, pp. 609, 610, give the report of a council

held with the Sioux at this post, concerning their conversion.—ED.

[337] For Running Water (Eau qui Court) River see our volume xxii, p.

291, note 252.—ED.

[338] Apparently Bon Homme Island, the largest in that vicinity, for

which see our volume vi, p. 91, note 34.—ED.

[339] For Fort Vermillion see our volume xxvii, p. 153, note 22 (De Smet).

Major Joseph V. Hamilton was Indian agent at Council Bluffs, 1839-41; in

1843 Audubon found him at Fort George, in temporary charge of the agency

at that place.—ED.

[340] For old Council Bluffs see our volume xxii, p. 275, note 231. See

also De Smet’s letters on this locality in Nebraska Historical Society

_Transactions_, i, pp. 42-44.—ED.

[341] For Cabanné and the location of his post see our volume xxii, p.

271, note 226.

For the early history of the Mormons in Missouri and Illinois, see our

volumes xx, pp. 94-99 with accompanying notes; xxiv, p. 119, note 99; and

xxvi, pp. 334-338.

The charter of Nauvoo, their Illinois settlement, having been revoked

early in 1846, the Mormon leaders organized an emigration, and moved

west through Iowa to the Missouri River. Having held a council with the

neighboring Indians, they established winter quarters at what is now

Florence, Nebraska, where De Smet found them. Early in the spring of 1847

a delegation was dispatched to seek a permanent home. The valley of Salt

Lake was chosen, and removals thither began in 1848. In a later letter

Father de Smet intimates that his account to them of the Salt Lake basin

had some influence in determining the site of their future home.—ED.

[342] Brigham Young was born in Vermont in 1801; at the age of sixteen

he removed to New York, where he became a convert to Mormonism, entering

that church in 1832. Three years later he was chosen one of the twelve

apostles, and in 1837 led a band of followers to Missouri. After the

persecutions in that state, he aided in founding Nauvoo, Illinois, and in

1840 made a missionary trip to England. Upon the death of Joseph Smith,

Young became the head of the church—a position maintained until his death

in 1877. He guided the emigration to Salt Lake, and in 1850 was appointed

governor of the territory of Utah.

De Smet’s early sympathy with the Mormons, as expressed at this time and

in other letters, later suffered a considerable change. See his letter of

1858 in Chittenden and Richardson, _De Smet_, iv, pp. 1407-1415.—ED.

[343] The post at Bellevue, for which see our volume xxii, p. 267, note

221.

Pierre Labbadie Sarpy, better known as Colonel Peter, was born in St.

Louis in 1805 of a prominent French Creole family. About 1822 he went

to the frontier as a trader, and thereafter preferred the free life of

the West to a conventional career in St. Louis. Upon the retirement of

Cabanné, Sarpy became the American Fur Company’s agent at Bellevue, where

he autocratically ruled for many years. His Indian wife Nekomi was a

woman of influence with the neighboring tribes. Colonel Sarpy aided the

Mormons on their emigration and assisted in building up the new territory

of Nebraska, establishing ferries, and maintaining several trading

posts. He removed from Bellevue to St. Mary’s, Iowa, later (1861) to

Plattsmouth, where he died in 1865.—ED.

[344] For Laforce Papin see our volume xv, p. 143, note 44.—ED.

[345] For these streams see our volumes v, p. 72, note 40; and xiv, pp.

219, 221, notes 170, 173. Table Creek is a small run in Otoe County,

Nebraska, at whose mouth is situated Nebraska City.—ED.

[346] The site of St. Joseph was early known as Blacksnake Hills,

where Joseph Robidoux had a trading post—see our volumes xxii, p. 257,

note 210, and xxiv, p. 121, note 102. After the Platte purchase (1836)

settlers began flocking in, and in 1843 the town was platted, being named

St. Joseph for its founder. By the close of the year 1846, when De Smet

passed, the place had a population of nearly a thousand.—ED.

[347] For the early history of Westport (Kansas City) see De Smet’s

_Letters_, our volume xxvii, p. 135, note 2.—ED.

[348] For the Pawnee and their four great divisions see our volume xiv,

p. 233, note 179. See illustration of interior of a Kansa lodge, built in

a manner similar to the Pawnee, in _ibid._, p. 208.—ED.

[349] See our volume xxvii, p. 208, note 82.—ED.

[350] See on this subject of human sacrifice note 83 in De Smet’s

_Letters_, our volume xxvii, p. 210.—ED.

[351] A name which they give to the Great Spirit.—DE SMET.

[352] This method of smoking is in great repute among all the savages of

the West. It is of the same importance and equally as binding as an oath

among civilized nations. If two savages, ready to kill each other, can be

induced to accept the calumet, the dispute ceases, and the bond of their

friendship becomes stronger than ever.—DE SMET.

[353] The ashki is a cord, made of horse-hair or of the bark of the

elm, which they prepare by boiling it in cold water. It varies from

twenty-five to sixty feet in length, and, although it is but about one

inch in thickness, it is strong enough to bind the most powerful man.

This they adorn with the quills of the porcupine, and with little bells.

The bells, besides for the sake of ornament, are intended to give notice

in case the victim makes any efforts to escape.—DE SMET.

[354] For the Sanpoil Indians see De Smet’s _Letters_ in our volume

xxvii, p. 319, note 161.—ED.

[355] For different forms of the name of the Yellowstone see our volume

xxii, p. 375, note 351.—ED.

[356] Fort Augustus, the present Edmonton, Alberta.—ED.

[357] For the former exploits of these two chiefs see De Smet’s _Letters_

in our volume xxvii, pp. 285, 286.—ED.