Chapter 22

[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; seeReportof 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), seeante, 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; seeante, 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’sOregon, our volume xxi, p. 73, note 50.—Ed.[173]James Birnie (Burney), for whom see Townsend’sNarrativein our volume xxi, p. 361, note 130.—Ed.[174]See descriptions of this form of entombment in our volume xxi, p. 338; also inOriginal 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’sLettersin 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’sLettersin our volume xxvii, p. 337, note 172. The location of the Bay of the Pend d’Oreille (Kalispels) is givenpost, note 73.—Ed.[183]For these tribes and the former visit of De Smet, see hisLettersin 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’sLetters, 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, seepost, 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’sOregon Settlersin 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’sLettersin our volume xxvii, p. 307, note 160. Consult G. M. Dawson “The Shuswap People,” in Royal Society of CanadaTransactions, ix, part ii, pp. 3-44; A. G. Morice, “The Western Dénés” in Canadian InstituteProceedings, 3d series, vol. 7, pp. 109-120; and Franz Boas, inReportof 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 SocietyQuarterly, 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’sMemoir, published inReports 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’sLettersin 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; andO. gorbusha, the hump-backed salmon. The sixth variety noted may be theSalmo 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’sVoyagesin 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 inReportof British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1892, pp. 549-614; see also De Smet’sLettersin our volume xxvii, p. 357, note 180.—Ed.[201]Lake Pend d’Oreille, in northern Idaho; for which see De Smet’sLettersin our volume xxvii, p. 339, note 175.—Ed.[202]For a brief biographical sketch of Peter Skeen Ogden see Townsend’sNarrativein our volume xxi, p. 314, note 99. For an account of De Smet’s journey with Ogden in 1842, see the former’sLettersin 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’sJournalin 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 pressSketches 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 ofSketches in the Crimea(London, 1856); he also wroteHistorical 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 inOriginal 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 hisNarrative, 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. SeeReportof 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’sLettersin 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 asTravels 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 hisTravels, 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’sLettersin 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 InstituteProceedings, 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 SocietyContributions, 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 hisReminiscences and Memoirs(St. Paul, 1890). He was still living in 1904.—Ed.[240]For the Potawatomi mission see De Smet’sLettersin 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. SeeExplorations 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’sVoyages, 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.

[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), seeante, 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; seeante, 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’sOregon, our volume xxi, p. 73, note 50.—Ed.

[173]James Birnie (Burney), for whom see Townsend’sNarrativein our volume xxi, p. 361, note 130.—Ed.

[174]See descriptions of this form of entombment in our volume xxi, p. 338; also inOriginal 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’sLettersin 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’sLettersin our volume xxvii, p. 337, note 172. The location of the Bay of the Pend d’Oreille (Kalispels) is givenpost, note 73.—Ed.

[183]For these tribes and the former visit of De Smet, see hisLettersin 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’sLetters, 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, seepost, 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’sOregon Settlersin 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’sLettersin our volume xxvii, p. 307, note 160. Consult G. M. Dawson “The Shuswap People,” in Royal Society of CanadaTransactions, ix, part ii, pp. 3-44; A. G. Morice, “The Western Dénés” in Canadian InstituteProceedings, 3d series, vol. 7, pp. 109-120; and Franz Boas, inReportof British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1890, pp. 642-647.—Ed.

The Porteurs (Carriers) are described in De Smet’sLettersin our volume xxvii, p. 307, note 160. Consult G. M. Dawson “The Shuswap People,” in Royal Society of CanadaTransactions, ix, part ii, pp. 3-44; A. G. Morice, “The Western Dénés” in Canadian InstituteProceedings, 3d series, vol. 7, pp. 109-120; and Franz Boas, inReportof 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 SocietyQuarterly, 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’sMemoir, published inReports 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’sLettersin 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; andO. gorbusha, the hump-backed salmon. The sixth variety noted may be theSalmo 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’sVoyagesin 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 inReportof British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1892, pp. 549-614; see also De Smet’sLettersin our volume xxvii, p. 357, note 180.—Ed.

[201]Lake Pend d’Oreille, in northern Idaho; for which see De Smet’sLettersin our volume xxvii, p. 339, note 175.—Ed.

[202]For a brief biographical sketch of Peter Skeen Ogden see Townsend’sNarrativein our volume xxi, p. 314, note 99. For an account of De Smet’s journey with Ogden in 1842, see the former’sLettersin 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’sJournalin 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 pressSketches 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 ofSketches in the Crimea(London, 1856); he also wroteHistorical 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 inOriginal 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 hisNarrative, 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. SeeReportof 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’sLettersin 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 asTravels 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 hisTravels, 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’sLettersin 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 InstituteProceedings, 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 SocietyContributions, 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 hisReminiscences and Memoirs(St. Paul, 1890). He was still living in 1904.—Ed.

[240]For the Potawatomi mission see De Smet’sLettersin 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. SeeExplorations 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’sVoyages, 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.

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