CHAPTER III.

FIRST MISSION WORK AMONG THE WHITES.

The first priestly duty performed among the whites were several sick-calls attended from the Indian Mission of St. Ignatius, at the tome the only place in the territory where the comforts of religion could be had and whence a priest could be summoned in case of sickness or accident.

The first calls came from a couple of settlements, of which shall speak directly, situated some forty miles southwest of the Mission. With the beginning of the mining period, the priest was called from more distant points, such as Gold Creek and other camps in the upper country. Father U. Grassi attended a sick-call to Bannack in 1862, the round trip demanding a hose-back ride of some five hundred miles. On such occasions, whenever practicable, the missioner would tale along his portable chapel to say Mass, and would perform other priestly duties, besides attending the sick.

The two white settlements just referred to, lay, as said, some forty miles southwest of St. Ignatius, and had come into existence with the opening by the government of the military road from Walla Walla to Fort Benton, commonly known as the Mullan Road. the upper settlement or village stood about five miles from the mouth of the so-called Hell's Gate Canyon, and taking its name there from, became known as Hell's Gate, too. Later on, when speaking of the Missoula Mission, we shall see the origin and meaning of this ominous appellation. The other settlement or white village stood some fourteen miles below the former, to the west, at the lower end of the same valley, and received the name of Frenchtown from the fact that those who first located there were French-speaking people, that is, French-Canadians. Among these were Baptiste Du Charme, whose life has already passed the century mark; and Louis Brun, better known as old Louis Brown. They were Catholics, of course. So were the Pelletiers, Americanized into Pelkies and several

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other who were among the first to take up farms and build homes near Hell's Gate.

The Mission road striking the valley midway between them, the two villages were about equidistant and but a days' ride from St. Ignatius. It was therefore comparatively an easy matter for those settlers not only to bring out a priest in case of accident or sickness, but to have his services also at other times. The more so, that the new villages lay along the road traveled by the Fathers when going to or returning from St. Mary's--at this time visited from St. Ignatius--to the Coeur d'Alene and the Indian tribes across the range. This gave the whites in the Hell's Gate Valley many an opportunity to see the priest.

Further, the comparative nearness of places made it practicable for some of the new settlers to betake themselves to the mission for their religious duties, as now and then they would do, especially at the recurrence of Easter and Christmas. Thus, owing to location, conditions and environment, it came to pass that the Hell's Gate and Frenchtown villages were the first white settlements in Montana, as well as the first to enjoy the ministrations of religion. And not only this, but to their lot also fell the privilege of having in their midst the first two churches built for the whites in the state.

Father U. Grassi, the local Superior of the Mission at the time, having visited the Hell's Gate village time and again, concluded to erect a church or chapel fro the Catholics of the settlement. Accordingly, he purchased from one of the first settlers in the locality a piece of ground on which he had a church erected in the summer of 1863. It was an edifice of hewn logs set up by one of the Brothers fro the mission, namely, Brother W. Claessens, and the work being superintended by Father J. Caruana, who while on his way to the Coeur d' Alenes Indians, stooped some time in the village for that very purpose. The church or chapel stood near the brow of the northern bank of the river--called at present the Missoula, but originally named the St. Ignatius by Father De Smet--and almost opposite the mouth of the St. Mary's, today the Bitter Root River. Services were not held here occasionally, to the great delight of the little community. The first church for the whites in Montana was

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named after St. Michael, and remained a dependency of the Mission of St. Ignatius for several years.

The new chapel, however, was at too great a distance for the larger number of Catholics who had settled at the lower end of the valley. Hence the name Father U. Grassi, assisted by Father Menetrey, did for the lower settlement or Frenchtown in 1864 what the year before he had done for their settlement at the upper end of the valley or Hell's Gate. He bought a partially improved parcel of land, and built on it a church or chapel for the benefit of the Frenchtown community. The structure stood on the elevated plateau a little northeast of the town, and was much like the one in the upper village, of hewn logs and of about the same dimensions. It was first called St. Louis, and most likely after the Holy King of that name. We infer this from the acts or records of the Confirmation administered therein August 3, 1882, by Archbishop Charles Seghers, and drawn up by Father A. Folehi, at that time the priest in charge. It is designated in the records as Ecclesia Sti. Ludovici. The title was likely suggested by the fact that Louis was the Christian name of the first settler in the vicinity, namely, Louis Brun or Brown, whom we mentioned above. The original title was changed later on into that of St. John the Baptist.

Like that of Hell's Gate, the Frenchtown chapel remained a dependency of the parent church or St. Ignatius, whence both had sprung and whence they were now visited alternately at states times. Father Menetrey, who had been charged by Father Grassi to superintendent the erection of the buildings, was also the first to officiate therein.

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We shall return in due time both to Hell's Gate and French town, to complete the history of these two missions. Presently we must cross the range and take up the history of the Benton Mission, as it would seem to come next in the chronological order of our narrative.