[1] In 1836, French Canadian pioneers on the French Prairie in the Willamette Valley built a log cabin chapel along the Willamette River near the Methodist Mission.

[5] After several requests for a religious leader by the French Canadians in the Willamette Valley beginning in 1834, and a second request in 1836, the Roman Catholic Church sent several priests including François Norbert Blanchet to Oregon Country.

[6] After receiving permission from the Hudson's Bay Company, Blanchet moved south of the Columbia River and gave the first Mass in the Willamette Valley on January 6, 1839.

[7] While preaching to the Catholic community at that church, Blanchet lived behind the altar.

[5] On December 11, 1843, Pope Gregory XVI created an apostolic vicarate out of Oregon with Blanchet as the archbishop.