Prairie, one of which was in connection with a hunting party one foggy morning. Grizzlies were not unknown in the Willamette Valley, though they were not abundant. The Chinook jargon name for the grizzly was eshayum, quite distinct from the name of the common black bear, itch-hoot. Both these words are evidently primitive Indian terms (S. B. Smith) and thus show that the grizzlies were a well recognized species in the Willamette Valley during the period of Indian occupation.
Labonte Jr. has recollections of earliest French Prairie which are very valuable, and give a new, or at least a clearer understanding of settlement here, than ever seems to have been published, and shows Chemaway on the Willamette River about twelve miles above Champoeg to have been the first nucleus of settlement. According to these recollections, which should of course be subjected to close examination before being used as the basis of a final conclusion, it was Joseph Gervais and the remnants of the Astor company, or Hunt's part of it, who were the original pioneers of French Prairie, and thus of Oregon. These were Joseph Gervais, Etienne Lucier, Louis Labonte, Wm. Cannon, Alexander Carson, (Alex. Essen) and Dubruy. Whether the fact that they had been with an American company made them any more independent and more disposed to settle for themselves, may be questioned; but at any rate, they formed a little company of comrades and became the first group of independent Oregon people.
Joseph Gervais was the first, and when the Labontes arrived in about 1831, he had been upon his place at Chemaway at least three years, and had made considerable improvements. Chemaway is situated on the bank of the Willamette River at a somewhat abrupt point over the water and became afterwards the location of Jason Lee, and the Methodist Mission. It is not to be
