| Summary: | And Early Explorations 627 ing the horns of two elk interlocked on the building site, thirty- five miles north of Medora. The Roosevelt Cabin on the capitol grounds was originally on the Chimney Butte Ranch. CHURCHES The first church in North Dakota was Roman Catholic, and was established in Pembina, under authority of his grace, J. O. Plessis, Bishop of Quebec. On July 16, 1818, two priests, Rev. Father Joseph Norbert Provencher and Rev. Father Joseph Severe Dumoulin arrived at Fort Douglas, or as we now know it, Winnipeg, direct from Quebec to establish and have charge of the Red River Mission. When Rev. Fathers Provencher and Dumoulin reached Fort Douglas, they were requested to send a priest to Pembina where both the Hudson Bay Co., and the Northwest Co., had trading posts and whose employees were mostly Catholics. Rev. Father Dumoulin was placed in charge of the Pembina parish in September, 1818, the first priest assigned to a North Dakota field. He soon established a school and placed Wm. Edge in charge as catechist. In 1831, Rev. Father George A. J. Belcourt was assigned to the Pembina parish, and labored there for 28 years. He established a mission at St. Joseph and later took up the work of converting the Chippewa Indians at the Turtle Mountains. He planted the cross on the highest peak there in 1852 which he named Butte de St. Paul. Sister Gladeau was the first nun to labor among these Indians. FYther Belcourt invited the Little Sisters of the Propogation of the Faith to come to his parish to labor. He founded St. Francis Xavier's Academy in 1848 with Mother St. Francis Xavier Superior in charge. His church and school were burned by the Sioux Indians in 1852 and he then moved from St. Joseph to Leroy. Father Belcourt resigned his pastorate in 1859 and returned to Canada and died in New Brunswick in 1874. His last ministerial act in North Dakota was the baptizing of Gabriel Grant in March, 1859. Mr. Grant is a grandson of Peter Grant, the early day trader, and in recent years was chief of police in Fargo. Rev. Father Joseph Goiffon was the next priest. In Novem- Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
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