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| | CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: State of Washington |
 | | The principal rivers of western Washington are the Skagit, Snohomish, Duwamish, Chehalis, and Willapa, which flow to the ocean, and the Cowlitz, a tributary of the Columbia. |
 | | The first mission in the whole Northwest was established at Cowlitz, where Father Blanchet said Mass in the home of Simon Plamandon, one of the four Catholic settlers at that point, on 16 Dec., 1838. |
 | | So strenuous, zealous, and successful was the work performed by these two apostles of the Northwest, that in 1844, when Father Blanchet was raised to the episcopal dignity, he could report to his superiors the conversion of more than 5000 Indians and the return to their religious practices of about 1500 whites. |
| www.newadvent.org /cathen/15560a.htm (3947 words) |
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