came from Canada by sea, in 1842, as previously mentioned.[1]
During De Smet's visit to Europe, Oregon was erected into an apostolic vicariate by Pope Gregory XVI., who appointed Blanchet archbishop of the territory, Demers succeeding him as vicar-general. The briefs were made out December 1, 1843, and reached Oregon November 4, 1844. Soon afterward Blanchet proceeded by sea to Canada, to receive his consecration at the hands of the archbishop of Quebec. He then made a voyage to Europe to devise means of increasing the resources of the Oregon mission. He met with great success in securing funds and volunteers,[2] and returned to Oregon in August 1847, with twenty-one recruits, among whom were seven sisters of Notre Dame de Namur; three Jesuit priests, Gaets, Gazzoli, and Menestrey, with three lay brothers; five secular priests, Le Bas, McCormick, Deleveau, Pretot, and Veyret; two deacons, B. Delorme and J. F. Jayol; and one cleric, T. Mesplie.[3]
- ↑ An offer was made by the Catholics to purchase the building and grounds of the Oregon Institute first erected on Wallace Prairie, and offered for sale by Gary, who was closing up the Methodist Mission; but that gentleman declined to sell to the successful rivals of Methodism, though the Methodist Society would have received double what it did receive for the property. Hines' Or. and Ins., 161.
- ↑ Louis Philippe of France gave 3,000 francs, and ordered the ministers of the interior and marine to pay each 7,200 francs. The Leopoldine Society of Vienna gave 4,000 florins, and other societies or corporations different sums. Blanchet's Cath. Ch. in Or., 157–8.
- ↑ The vessel which brought Blanchet's Catholic colony was L'Étoile du Matin, Captain Menes, belonging to V. Marzion & Co., of Havre de Grace, and was sent by them to Oregon, having a half-cargo for Tahiti. She was not, like the Indefatigable, obliged to cross the bar without chart or pilot, but was brought safely into the river by pilot Reeves, and ascended the Columbia to the mouth of the Willamette, where her cargo was unloaded. Proceeding immediately she finished her voyage to Tahiti, and returned to France, whence her owners once more despatched her to Oregon, where they designed establishing a French colony. On returning to the Columbia River in '49 or '50, Captain Menes, after waiting outside for a pilot several days, undertook to cross the bar without one, but his vessel struck on the sands, where she pounded for nine hours, and suffered serious damage. She was finally brought into Baker Bay by the assistance of Latta, a pilot of the Hudson's Bay Company, who with a number of natives went to her assistance, and constructing a box rudder brought her in. She was afterwards taken to Portland, where her cargo was landed, and the hull burned for the iron and copper. Captain Menes opened a French store at Oregon City for her owners, Marzion & Co. In
