1845
In February, the iron grip of winter on the Rockies weakens and De Smet and Hoecken can leave for St. Mary. After a trouble-free mountain journey of 16 days, they finally reach the mission where Fathers Mengarini and Zerbinati have been waiting for them for some time.
After Easter, Adriaan Hoecken is instructed to start a new reduction at the Kalispels: St. Ignatius. De Smet travels to Fort Vancouver to resupply the new mission. After 5 days the Columbia River delivers De Smet healthy and well to the fort. Father Nobili awaits him in the fort and together they go to the St.-Franciscus Xaverius mission on the Willamette River, where his young recruits Accolti, Ravalli, Vercruysse and De Vos still reside. Bishop Blanchet has asked Nobili to work with the Indians of New Caledonia (an area northeast of the present city of Vancouver, British Columbia).
In June, De Smet will be ready to return with his purchases. Loaded with cargo, he travels through the Cascades with Ravalli and arrives in St. Ignatius in July with 11 beasts of burden. Ravalli becomes Hoecken's assistant in St. Ignatius.
De Smet sees to it that other mission posts are established : St. Paul near the falls of the Columbia (Kettle Falls) for the Kettle and Okanagan Indians and more to the north St. Peter of the Lakes. On August 4, De Smet leaves St. Paul for a place between St. Ignatius and Sacred Heart to start another reduction: St. Francis Regis (below Fort Colville). A number of trappers and their families want to settle there permanently. De Smet also visits the Flathead and the Kootenai Indians.
The feared Blackfoot Indians have been trying to drive their competitors, the Flathead Indians, out of their traditional hunting grounds for some time now. They do not fear the presence of the missionaries and regularly attack the Flathead Indians near the St. Mary mission. Due to the increasing aggression, De Smet finally decides to contact the infamous Blackfoot Indians. The agent of Fort Colville knows these dangerous people and tries to change De Smet's mind. Fathers Accolti and Nobili also consider it a dangerous undertaking, and Nobili knows what he is talking about, he has studied the habits of the Blackfoot and knows better than anyone the hostile attitude of this warlike tribe. He writes about it in a letter to Roothaan. But afterwards it turns out that De Smet has chosen the right moment: Blackfoot Indians lose their self-confidence and want to learn more about the supposed magic of the Black Robe.
On the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, in the area of the upper Missouri, groups of Blackfoot Indians regularly roam. To contact them, simply travel east for a few days. De Smet deliberately does not do that because he wants to talk to the northern Blackfoot first. There is less chance that this group of Blackfoot Indians have had contact with the Flathead and therefore have no grievances against them.
After starting a new mission (Immaculate Heart of Mary), De Smet leaves for the north at the end of August with two Kootenai guides plus an Indian interpreter. He travels along the Clark Fork River and encounters Peter Skene Ogden again with two Hudson's Bay Company agents. Ogden has news for De Smet. The British Foreign Office wants the Columbia River as the US border in order to keep the Puget Sound and a large part of the current state of Washington in British hands. The Pudget Sound is a major strait with the first safe deep-water harbor north of San Francisco. Most American settlers settle in the fertile Willamette Valley, but some are already moving up the Cowlitz River, north of Fort Nisqually, to the southern shore of Puget Sound. Who will be quick enough to populate the area, the English or the Americans?
De Smet travels across the Selkirk Mountains (in northern Idaho) to the Kootenai River. On September 4, 40 miles north of the current Canada-U.S. border, (the 49th degree of latitude), De Smet leaves the Kootenai River and goes to the source of the Columbia: Lake Columbia. On September 15, he climbs over the top of the Rockies via the White Man Pass to the Bow River. At that place the guides notice traces of Indians. It is a branch of the Assiniboin Indians who mainly live in the forest. In De Smet's eyes they are primitive and dirty, but he still wants to get to know them better. He spends a week with them.
He then crosses the prairie and on October 4, De Smet reaches Rocky Mountain House, an 1805 Hudson's Bay Company trading post on the North Saskatchewan River. The boss of the establishment is J. E. Harriote, a Protestant. He tells De Smet that he expects a delegation of Blackfoot Indians at any moment. The HBC trades with the Blackfoot Indians. He also warns De Smet that they are a dangerous people. Hanging out with them is not without risk. De Smet realizes the danger and he sends back his small Indian escort. What De Smet does not know, however, is that there were regular heavy conflicts between the Blackfoot and the Flathead Indians last summer.
On October 25, 13 Blackfoot Indians suddenly appear near the trading post. They want to trade their pelts. After some talking back and forth, they agree to meet the Black Robe. After some discussion, the chief invites De Smet to come to his camp to instruct them about the Creator of Life. The Blackfoot Indians have had a difficult year, some of them contracted a mysterious disease (smallpox) and died. Many of their horses have been stolen, and they have also been beaten up by other tribes such as the Crow, the Flathead, the Kalispels and the Cree.
However, there is a problem, De Smet does not speak their language and he is forced to call on an interpreter with a bad reputation. Still, he takes a chance. On October 31, he leaves with the unreliable interpreter and a Cree half-blood in search of the base camp of the Blackfoot Indians. After a 10-day search, they have not yet found the camp in question. De Smet smells trouble. He fears that the interpreter is planning a robbery. Just in time, another Canadian joins the trio. The next night the interpreter has disappeared. But De Smet does not give up. They roam for another 8 days, without encountering a living soul. Little does De Smet know that warlike Cree have driven the Blackfoot out of this area. And then it snows for 4 days straight. De Smet surrenders. He moves as fast as he can north, to Fort Augustus (today Edmonton, Alberta) to spend the winter there. As usual, the HBC's chief merchant, John Rowand, takes good care of his guests. De Smet gives the Catholic community in and around the fort some comfort and support during the long and lonely winter months. He also meets Fathers Thibault and Bourassa who work in the Indian mission of St. Anne (50 miles west of the fort).
1846
In the month of March the weather usually is a bit milder. For De Smet, that is the signal to leave. On March 12, he says goodbye to his host and, in the company of three half-bloods, he hurries across the frozen rivers with three dog sleds. Six days later, he reaches Fort Assiniboin on the Athabasca River. In 9 days they covered 480 kilometers over the frozen Athabasca River to Fort Jasper in the Canadian Rockies. There they will stay with Colin Fraser of the HBC until Easter Sunday. On April 25, De Smet moves on, first with a few Indians, then alone. Every year in the spring, an HBC brigade crosses the mountains from the west. De Smet decides to wait for these voyageurs. And he doesn't even have to wait long, because on May 6, the first travelers from the Columbia River basin arrive. The next day De Smet climbs the Athabasca Pass (Committee's Punchbowl) on his snowshoes. 13 kilometers further he meets a group of 18 men from the HBC. Among them is Francis Ermatinger, the old acquaintance of Fort Hall (1841). The captain gives De Smet permission to sail with an HBC barge. De Smet has to hurry. 2 days later he has to be at Boat Encampment on the Columbia, because then the ships leave for Fort Colville. Walking 30 miles a day across the Rockies in winter is a lot. The next morning the race starts, Athabasca Pass, Great Western Slope, Le Grande Côte, Pacific Creek and a branch of the Wood River. But on May 10, he reached Boat Encampment on the Columbia River. Fortunately, the HBC boats are still on site.
With an Iroquois at the helm and 10 oarsmen, they take on the many obstacles on the wild water: Martin Rapids, Great Rapids and Dalles of the Dead. They sail past St. Peter of the Lakes mission. At the Little Dalles, just above Fort Colville, De Smet asks to be allowed to disembark in order to take this obstacle on foot along the bank. This time too, De Smet feels the accident coming : the boat ends up in a whirlpool and is lost, but luckily there are no fatalities this time. At the end of May, De Smet reaches Fort Colville and the St. Paul mission. There he meets Father Nobili. It came from the north via the Okanagan River. His health is not good. He's on his way to Fort Vancouver for medical attention. The person in charge of Fort Colville ensures that De Smet and Nobili can sail together to Fort Vancouver.
In Fort Vancouver, De Smet wants to buy supplies for the missions. Everything is perfectly under control in the Willamette Valley. The sisters' school is going well and in July François Norbert Blanc becomes Archbishop of Oregon, with Modeste Demers as Bishop of Vancouver Island. Augustin Magloire Blanchet, brother of François Norbert, becomes the first bishop of Walla Walla (transferred to Nesqually in 1850).
De Smet wants to travel from the Willamette to the St. Francis Xavier mission, but a powder horn explodes in his face and he misses the HBC boat to Fort Colville. He travels to Fort Walla Walla. An important settlement has grown up near the Dalles, once the meeting place between the Indians of the coast and those of the plateau. The place is teeming with pioneers and emigrants. In Walla Walla, De Smet leaves the Columbia to travel through Spokane and Nez Percé country with a train of donkeys and horses and his cargo. He supplies the most important missions. On 17 July he arrives at Father Hoecken's in St. Ignatius. From there he leaves for the mission of the Sacred Heart at the Coeur d'Alêne. Joseph Joset is in charge. Point is replaced by Gregory Gazzoli. Father Point has been frustrated for some time and has now written to Roothaan asking to be allowed to work for the French Jesuits in Canada. This request will not reach Roothaan until February 1847. De Smet and Point leave together for St. Mary and the Flatheads.
Summer is coming. The mission work is moving in the right direction, but it suffers from a chronic shortage of personnel. This is especially visible at St. Mary's Mission: Soderini wants to disengage, Point wants to leave and in August 1845 Zerbinati died. Ravalli who works in St. Ignatius is moved to St. Mary. The Flathead have become very aggressive in the meantime. They think that the god of their new faith, the Master of Life protects them in battle. The Flathead organize a visit to the hunting grounds of the Crow Indians. De Smet and Point follow them. In Three Forks they learn that the Flathead have moved over the Bozeman Pass to the Yellowstone River, along with some Nez Percé and ... a delegation of Blackfoot Indians. There's no time to lose. Gabriel and Charles lead the way. De Smet and Point follow as fast as they can. After a 36-hour drive, they finally make contact with their fellow tribesmen in the valley of the Yellowstone. The Flathead and the Crow face each other with weapons drawn. The Crow already made three attacks, but the Flathead managed to defend themselves bravely. Now it's Victor, the Flathead chief, to attack. Eventually, the Crow Indians are routed. When De Smet arrives at the Flathead camp, he is upset. He protests and immediately wants to send a message of peace to the Crow, but they gave up and are untraceable.
The Fladhead host Blackfoot Indians. They are amazed. The Flathead have a secret weapon! The Blackfoot delegation asks the Black Robe to come to their area as well. De Smet accepts the invitation. The Smet and Point plus 400 Flathead and Nez Percé Indians move through the valley of the Yellowstone River to the mouth of the Big Horn. There they travel northwest and on September 14 they reach the village of the Big Lake chief near the Judith River, a tributary of the Missouri. They all move together to the vicinity of a new Blackfoot trading post: Fort Clay. The fort was erected this year by Alexander Culbertson at the confluence of the Marias and Missouri Rivers. Culbertson is married to the daughter of a Blackfoot chief, a Blood. That explains his excellent relations with the Blood, Piegan and Siksika Indians. After the disappearance of Fort Mc Kenzie in 1844 and Fort Lewis in 1847, this is the only significant fort in the area.
(From Christmas 1850, the fort was renamed. In honor of Thomas Hart Benton of St. Louis, it would henceforth be called Fort Benton. The fort became very important because the Missouri River usually remained navigable to that place in the summer. In 1859 the military track, the Mullan Road, from Fort Benton to Walla Walla is completed and the first steamer arrives on July 2, 1860. In 1869 it becomes a military fort and will remain so until 1881.
North of Fort Clay, on an island in the Missouri River, a great council is held with the Flathead, Nez Percé, Gros Ventre, and Blackfoot (Piegan and Blood) Indians. De Smet and Point work out a peace treaty and Point agrees to remain with the Blackfoot as a missionary. Unfortunately, the appointment that won't last very long as Roothaan has assigned him as reqquested to a new post in eastern Canada. On September 24, De Smet and Point leave for Fort Lewis. De Smet befriends Alexander Culbertson there.
And then it is high time for De Smet to leave for St. Louis via the Missouri. On September 28, in the company of up to 1,000 Indians and under the deafening noise of hundreds of gunfires, De Smet and Point shook hands one last time. De Smet takes place on a flat barge that slowly floats eastwards towards Fort Union with two paddlers. On the way, they are attacked by a bear. On October 11, after 845 kilometers on the Missouri, they reach Fort Union. Two days later, De Smet is on his way again. A favorable wind is blowing and De Smet improvises a sail. In this way they cover 113 kilometers per day. On October 19, De Smet reached the new Fort Berthold. They sail past many Indian villages. Near the Knife River they are surprised by a gang of Arikara. The Arikara Indians are known as murderers and thieves. Fortunately, they recognize the Black Robe. Anyway, fear remains. After 4 days and nights of paddling, they arrive in Fort Pierre (AFC) on October 31. Another 1,000 miles to St. Louis. After 3 days of rest they sail on. On November 6, they meet the Sioux Indians at Fort Lookout. On November 13 they reach Fort Vermillion. It suddenly gets a lot colder.
At Council Bluffs, where the Jesuits made their failed attempt a few years ago to improve the lives of the Potawatomi, De Smet meets a large group of refugees. They are 10,000 Mormons expelled from Nauvoo in search of a homeland where they can practice their faith undisturbed. Until now, this was impossible. They were bullied in Illinois and Missouri and now they're camped on the banks of the Missouri. In June their leader, Brigham Young, came to this place to use it as winter quarters. According to legend De Smet gives Young a description of the landscape west of the Rockies. He answers many questions. Come Spring, the Mormons will move further west and eventually find their Zion in Utah on the shores of the Great Salt Lake based, among other things, on the information that De Smet gave them in Council Bluffs. However, it is certain that De Smet never saw the area in Utah with his own eyes. De Smet never crossed the Uinta Mountains and never visited the Great Basin. More than likely he got the description of this area from trappers like Thomas Fitzpatrick or from Peter Skene Ogden.
On November 23, De Smet will visit the pastor of the new city of St. Joseph. When De Smet arrives in Westport on November 28, he can leave his crew. He manages to get a seat on the last steamer to St. Louis. At the beginning of December, De Smet returns to St. Louis after three years and six months.
Between 1843 and 1846 he traveled 70,000 kilometers. This year alone, the missionary has traveled 10,500 kilometers, much of it on foot. But an unpleasant surprise awaits De Smet at the University of St. Louis. A letter from Rome shows that Roothaan fired De Smet. He is no longer responsible for the Rocky Mountain Mission as from August six of last year. Roothaan has his reasons. De Smet keeps his potty covered, sets up missions but doesn't complete anything, travels a lot and thus wastes a lot of time and money. De Smet would suffer from an urge to expand and that without the necessary resources to keep his promises to the Indians. De Smet allegedly misrepresented the facts and displayed an exaggerated optimism about the conversion of the Indians (indeed, the Flathead, Kalispels, and Coeur d'Alêne welcome the missionaries but continue to sin : gambling, alcoholism, violence and polygamy ... Roothaan has that negative information from some missionaries in the Rockies and just takes their messages for truth (without consulting Blanchet, for example). According to Roothaan, De Smet is too worldly. But Roothaan does not question the possibilities of the reduction system (and that is precisely the weak point of the whole scheme, because the Indians are increasingly coming into contact with the whites and are more and more subject to their bad influence). It is a fact that De Smet travels a lot, visits the Indians a lot and takes too little time to manage his missionaries (who, moreover, are not always cut out for the job).
De Smet seeks support from Van de Velde, who has since succeeded Verhaegen as responsible for Missouri. But Van de Velde cannot undo Roothaan's decision. There is nothing else to do, Father Joseph Joset (35) will succeed De Smet. De Smet henceforth has to remain in St. Louis. Point, Mengarini, Nobili, Ravalli, De Vos, Hoecken, Joset and many other Fathers will continue his missionary work in the Rockies.