First Mass

November 6, 1838

Documentation

• Hubert Howe Bancroft, "History of Oregon," Vol. 1, Ch. 13 (1886)
• History Link

Notes

Hubert Howe Bancroft's "History of Oregon" (1886) directly documents this Mass: during a four-day stay at Fort Colville on the Columbia, "mass was said" and nineteen people were baptized, with Frs. Blanchet and Demers received warmly by the local community. This predates the Mass already on the site at Cowlitz Prairie by about six weeks, on the same 1838 journey from Quebec. Gilbert J. Garraghan, S.J., "Catholic First Things in the United States" (Mid-America, 1939) independently documents the same event and date. HistoryLink.org confirms the broader journey timeline: the Hudson's Bay Company 'express' left Canada in May 1838, reaching Fort Walla Walla November 18 and Fort Vancouver November 24. Wikipedia's article on François Norbert Blanchet covers his career but does not mention the Fort Colville stop specifically.