Note 346 — OREGON MISSIONS AN OUTLINE SKETCH OF OREGON TERRITORY AND ITS MISSIONS (continued 4)
Reading edition
The site of St. Joseph was early known as Blacksnake Hills, where Joseph Robidoux had a trading post—see our volumes xxii, p. 257, note 210, and xxiv, p. 121, note 102. After the Platte purchase (1836) settlers began flocking in, and in 1843 the town was platted, being named St. Joseph for its founder. By the close of the year 1846, when De Smet passed, the place had a population of nearly a thousand.—Ed.