ve undergone.
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, 18.5;
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 OMumbia 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 m
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 m
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 Francuco
Chronicle June 30, 1881. Francis Dupre, another of the French settlers m 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 Bept. of Cases, n. 43o.
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 itrap- per he took a farm on the prairie. Another noted man was Michel La Fram- boise the leader of the southern annual trapping parties to Calif ornia, who ' was so attentive to Kelley when sick. He settled on the west side ot the Willamette. Another was Louis La Bonte, who settled on the west side of the river in 1833, in what is now Yamhill. Etienne Lucier, also of Hunt s party, remained to serve the British Company, and afterward settied in the Willa- mette 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 Bonte died in 1860, aged 80 years. Lucier died in 1853, and Gervais m 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 he 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