Page:History of Oregon volume 1.djvu/125

74 Louis Pichette left Canada in 1817, with a company of 25 trappers, and wintered on the plains, losing seven of the number, and arriving at Astoria in 1818. Pichette roamed about in California and Oregon for twelve years in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1832 he settled on a farm in the Willamette Valley, where he resided for over 40 years. He died November 20, 1876, aged 78 years. Portland Standard, December 22, 1876; Salem Willamette Farmer, Dec. 22, 1876; Salem Statesman, Dec. 22 1876. Other Canadians whose names appear among the early settlers are Francis Quesnel, who died in 1844, aged 65 years; Louis Shaugarette, who died in 1835; besides Payette, Bilake, Roudeau, Pournaffe, Chamberlain, and probably others. Andre La Chapelle was probably of Pichette's party. He was born in Montreal, August 14, 1781, and left Canada for Oregon in 1817, to join the service of the Northwest Company. In 1819 he was ordered to take a party up the Columbia as far as Boat Encampment, or the 'big bend' of that river, in latitude nearly 52° north, to meet the express from Canada. That year was noted for a great flood on the Columbia, and encampment could be made in few places. There were ten feet of water over the prairie where the town of Vancouver now stands. When headquarters were removed from Astoria to Vancouver, La Chapelle went to Fort Vancouver to reside, and remained in the company's service as a 'leader' until 1841, when he retired and settled with the other Canadians in the Willamette Valley. For 40 years he lived on his farm at Champoeg, and died June 11, 1881, having attained to within two months of 100 years. Portland Oregonian, June 21, 1881; San Francisco Chronicle June 30, 1881. Francis Dupré, another of the French settlers in the Willamette Valley, died in 1858 at the age of 99 years. These quiet, obedient simple-hearted people, Arcadians all, were remarkable for their longevity. All had Indian or half-breed wives, and numerous children. Louis Pichette had 21 offspring. I find mentioned the name of Andrew Dubois, and his wife Margaret, who were living on French Prairie in 1840, and had probably been in Oregon several years. ''Sawyer's Rept. of Cases'', ii. 435.

With the overland Astor expedition under Hunt came, with others, Joseph Gervais, always prominent in the French Canadian settlement. After serving the Hudson's Bay Company, and acting for ten years as an independent trapper, he took a farm on the prairie. Another noted man was Michel La Framboise, the leader of the southern annual trapping parties to California, who was so attentive to Kelley when sick. He settled on the west side of the Willamette. Another was Louis La Bonté, who settled on the west side of the river in 1833, in what is now Yamhill. Étienne Lucier, also of Hunt's party, remained to serve the British Company, and afterward settled in the Willamette Valley, where in the autumn of 1829 he took a farm on the Willamette where East Portland now stands. He afterward removed to French Prairie. Lucier, according to McLoughlin, was the first settler. La Bonté died in 1860, aged 80 years. Lucier died in 1853, and Gervais in 1861, the age of the latter being 84 years. William Cannon, a Virginian, and a soldier from Fort Mackinaw, settled on the west side of the Willamette River, opposite the falls, and lived to the age of 99 years, dying in 1854. Still another of the arrivals of 1812 was one Montoure, who is always mentioned by his surname. He selected for a farm that rich prairie where Samuel Brown subsequently