1847
When Van de Velde appoints him as bookkeeper-economist in St. Louis, a new but less adventurous chapter begins for De Smet. De Smet is deeply hurt by Roothaan's unexpected intervention. One thing is certain, he will not abandon the Indians and the missions in the Rocky Mountains. He resolves to raise money with redoubled zeal to supply his missions. To begin with, De Smet publishes a second book about his missionary work in the Rockies: Oregon Missions and Travels over the Rocky Mountains in 1845-46.
As procurator, Father Charles Elet has to go to Rome every two years to report. In St. Louis, the Jesuits still need young workers. De Smet is instructed to look for it in Europe and so he travels to the old continent once more with Elet.
It is spring when they arrive in Belgium and after a short visit to his family, De Smet accompanies Father Elet to Paris. De Smet takes a short retreat and then travels to Rome. He has an interview with Roothaan.
In Europe, revolution is in the air and it is difficult to convince people to become missionaries, but Charles Elet convinces his brother Jean Antoine to accompany him to the U.S.
Meanwhile, the Flathead Indians' conversion turns out to be rather superficial. After the hunting season, they collectively turn their backs to their new faith. They are particularly disappointed that Father Point has also donated their secret weapon to the Blackfoot Indians! Even their chief, Victor, can no longer make the dissident Flathead Indians listen to the missionaries. Father Point has since left for Canada and as a result left his 1,100 converted Blackfoot Indians behind. Missionary work among the Indians reached an all-time low when on November 29, in Waiilatpu, on the banks of the Walla Walla, Protestant missionaries Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, along with eleven inhabitants of the mission, are brutally murdered by rebellious Cayuse Indians. The mission station in Waiilatpu has been in existence for eleven years. Henry Spalding, the Protestant missionary to the Nez Percé Indians, claims that the Jesuits are instrumental in this tragedy : the Catholic missionaries use the Oregon Indians in their fight against the spread of the Protestant faith.
1848
On April 3, De Smet and Elet France for New York. They have at least $5,000 in their pocket. The weather gods above the North Atlantic once again seem very angry. The travelers have to cope with the seasickness until they can go ashore in New York on May 5. Once there, the news reaches them that Europe is in turmoil. With the deposition of Louis Philippe, a revolutionary and anti-clerical wind has once again risen in Paris, which will be felt as far away as Rome, Naples, Berlin, Vienna and Prague. Many priests flee Europe.
De Smet stays a little longer in New York to receive the first refugees and help them on their way. This time De Smet travels on the new waterway to the west, which runs for a large part over the Great Lakes. After a visit to Niagara Falls, he arrives back in St. Louis on July 4. There Elet appears to have been appointed Vice Provincial for the Jesuits of Missouri. That is a stroke of luck, because the new vice provincial has a great deal of understanding for De Smet's commitment. Elet immediately allows De Smet to fulfill his promise of 1846 and to talk to the dreaded Sioux Indians.
De Smet takes the boat to Bellevue (near Council Bluffs). At the mouth of the Platte, De Smet can join a small group of AFC members who travel on horseback to the region of the Niobrara and White rivers. It is extremely hot and the caravan is permanently surrounded by a cloud of aggressive mosquitoes. For 6 days they do not see a living soul, but at the Niobrara River they encounter a fairly large group of Ponca Indians. They are a bit hostile at first, but it doesn't take long before they pull out the pipe of peace. They know the reputation of the legendary Black Robe and thousands of Indians listen attentively to what De Smet has to say. The fur traders stop in Fort Pierre for the time being, but De Smet wants to go further inland. He hires Colin Campbell as a guide and interpreter and together they head west to the sources of the Niobrara and White rivers. They follow a trail to the Black Hills that parallels the south arm of the Cheyenne River. De Smet travels through the Mauvaises Terres (Badlands) in western South Dakota and describes a place where large skeletons of prehistoric animals lie.
25 days after his departure from Bellevue, De Smet arrives in a camp of Brulé and Ogallala Sioux hunters. These are real savages! They parade with the scalps of 32 freshly killed Omaha Indians. The massacre is celebrated extensively. Nevertheless, De Smet tries to change the ways of these bloodthirsty Indians. For one month he explains to them about Christian values. There he has his first encounter with Red Fish (a chief of the Ogallala; see 1863). On one of their raids, the Ogallala had invaded Crow country, and in one encounter Red Fish's daughter was captured. To get them back, Red Fish enlists De Smet's help. De Smet promises to pray for her when Red Fish improves his life. A few days later, the girl turns up back at the camp. One night she was able to escape through the hands of an unknown woman. She was still chased, but in the end she found her village by walking for her life for six days and nights. Red Fish believes that De Smet has created a small miracle. At the end of October, De Smet leaves the Brulé Indians with the promise to provide a permanent missionary. It is 1,500 miles to St. Louis. He hires a couple of paddlers and canoes to descend the Missouri River. Near Council Bluffs, a gale-force wind is blowing. The temperature drops quickly and the river freezes over. De Smet knocks on the door of a farmer. He agrees to rent him a cart. Thus he reaches St. Joseph. But the last steamer to St. Louis has already left. He chases the steamer. Because firewood has to be loaded on the way, he succeeds and arrives safely in St. Louis again.
1849
Van de Velde receives an important assignment in Chicago and Elet appoints De Smet as assistant vice-provincial and procurator. The assignment is no mean feat, as St. Louis he is now responsible for 200 Jesuits, the University of St. Louis with its 200 students, the Florissant Novitiate, the colleges of Bardstown, Louisville and Cincinnati plus 10 smaller sites. Two years ago the leadership of the Jesuits of Louisiana was transferred to the province of Lyons, but the Jesuits of Oregon and those of the Rocky Mountains are still governed from St. Louis (until Rome and later Turin take over in 1851) .
And then there are the missions at the Osage and the Potawatomi in Kansas, where 10 missionaries work. In the early 1940s, Christiaan Hoecken and Felix Verreydt moved from the St. Joseph Mission in Council Bluffs to the new home of the Potawatomi at Sugar Creek, south of Westport. There was in fact another group of Potawatomi, led by a Breton priest, a certain Petit, who had succeeded the missionaries Badin (New Orleans) and Deseille (Bruges). The Sisters of the Sacred Heart founded a school there. In 1848 these unfortunate Indians were driven further west again. The school and the missionaries would follow.
Hoecken, Duerinck, Gaillard and Dumortier set up the St. Mary mission in Kansas for them. De Smet ensures that the American government pays up the promised money. More to the south, in Neosho, the Dutch Father Schoenmakers and the Fleming Bax set up the St.-Franciscus Hieronymus mission at the Osage. Shoemakers will stay there from 1847 to 1887. De Smet will also support these missions financially. From those missions there are contacts with the Peoria, the Miami, the Seneca, the Cree and even the Sioux Indians. Father Bax (33) dies during a smallpox epidemic.
De Smet can count on a number of Belgian benefactors. They are: Count de Meeus, Countess d'Asprémont, Count de Mérode and even the Duke of Brabant (later Leopold II). De Smet can greatly improve the province's financial situation through a judicious policy. In the novitiate, De Smet befriends a half-blood who wants to become a Jesuit. It is Father Bouchard (his Indian name is Watomika, the swift-footed). He is the son of Kistalwa, a Delaware Indian, and Marie Bouchard, a Frenchwoman who came to the New World from the Auvergne during the Revolution. Bouchard will work in the San Francisco mission for 30 years and correspond regularly with De Smet.
It's a disaster year for St. Louis. During a fierce fire, 27 ships go up in flames and 500 houses are reduced to ashes. And to make matters worse, cholera breaks out. The epidemic claims no fewer than 200 victims. 1849 is also the year of a completely different fever. It is the gold rush that causes a huge migration of people. In two years, more than 80,000 settlers (mostly men) head west in a hurry and unprepared, in many cases on foot. The consequences are inevitable. In 1848 San Francisco was still a quiet port city with barely 500 inhabitants, but due to the Gold Rush it grew so fast that in 1850 it hosts 25,000 people. With the sudden increase in demand, a huge wave of inflation is emerging in the areas along the west coast. All prices are skyrocketing and the missions in the Rockies are in financial difficulties. Joseph Joset transfers the leadership of the mission to Father Michael Accolti. Roothaan again sends the necessary reproaches to De Smet. Between 1840 and 1846, De Smet pursued a poor financial policy, even worse, he did not fulfill his vow of poverty! De Smet does not accept that and refutes Roothaan's allegation. Accolti meanwhile decided, without waiting for Rome's approval, to go prospecting for gold in California with some clergymen. When Roothaan receives this information he is furious.
Every year more hunters and traders come to spend the winter near the St. Mary's mission. Those rough guys are a bad influence on the Flathead Indians. The missionaries and the Indians become estranged from each other and after the hunting season, most of the Flathead Indians decide to turn their backs on St. Mary for good. They deliberately set up camp outside the mission grounds. Neither Mengarini nor their chief Victor can change the Indians' decision.
The Hudson's Bay Company has evacuated Fort Vancouver. The headquarters of the HBC is now located in the city of Victoria on Vancouver island.
De Smet suffers from rheumatism.
1850
Due to the persistent pain, De Smet limits his travels to what is necessary for the management of the vice-province.
St. Louis has 80,000 inhabitants.
Accolti decides to abandon De Smet's first mission, the reduction of the Flathead Indians, St. Mary on the Bitter Root River. At the end of the year, Mengarini moves to the valley of the Willamette and Antonio Ravalli leaves for the Coeur d'Alêne. The Jesuits sold the mission buildings to a certain Major John Owen. Owen is an Indian agent (a local trader with the Indians). He will make a fortress of it. Mengarini, Nobili and De Vos go to California to start a new mission (De Vos will die on September 23, 1886 in Santa Clara).