Pioneer, Explorer, Trapper, Guide, Carpenter, Farmer, Legislator, Businessman, Indian Agent, Political Activist
Born in 1800, Simon Bonaparte Plamondon was the seventh child of Jean Baptiste and Catherine Gill Plamondon. His father was a royal surveyor and manager of Indian Affairs in Quebec. The French Canadians were known for living and working cooperatively with the Indians, and Simon learned many Indian dialects along with French and English. Described as a “lone-wolf-type” child, Simon had an early obsession with the adventures of the French explorers known as “Coeur-de-bois.” Orphaned in June of 1810 when his parents and an older brother drowned in the St. Lawrence River, he lived with relatives until 1814, when he left Quebec on the first of what became known as his “long walks.” Reports generally agree that he reached New Orleans before traveling the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, then heading up the Columbia River. In 1816, Simon joined the Canadian Northwest Fur Company as a carpenter and handyman just prior to it being taken over by the British-owned Hudson’s Bay Company.
Having proven trustworthy and capable, the company allowed Simon to scout the Columbia River alone and when he paddled his canoe against the currents in the winter of 1918, he became one of the first white men to travel up the Cowlitz River. Even though he fell in love with the landscape, alone and unarmed, Simon decided to turn back and return with more men. In 1820, Simon and two fellow workers again headed up the Cowlitz, and ended up being captured by the Cowlitz Indians and taken to Chief Scanewa. Because the men were unarmed, and Simon spoke several Indian dialects, they were unharmed. After several weeks, the men were released after promising to “return with trade goods,” and under the careful watch of two tribesmen. Some time later, Simon brought back tobacco, baskets, clothes, beads, and blankets. Chief Scanewa praised him as a “man of his word,” and offered his daughter, Tha-se-muth, (who later changed her name to Veronica), to Simon in marriage. Married in approximately 1820, the area’s first child of white ancestry was born to them in 1821. Unfortunately, during the birth of the couple’s fourth child, Vanessa died. Heartbroken, Simon left his children in the care of a trusted Indian family, gathered his gun, dog, and provisions to venture on another long walk. Research and family histories differ, but his later stories of how the Eskimos lived and other details lead to the belief he probably went into Northern Canada. Returning through Spokane, Simon met and married Emilie Fenlay Bercier, a new widow, and brought her and her children home with him.
During his sixteen years with Hudson’s Bay Company, Simon helped the firm move from Fort George, (present-day Astoria), to Fort Vancouver which was Washington’s first permanent settlement. When the company branched into agriculture, Simon helped establish Cowlitz Farm, clearing land for crops, planting orchards, and again using his carpentry skills. He and his family, including himself, Veronica’s four children, Emilie’s five children, and eventually five children of their own—lived on 40 acres of their own while Simon managed operations of the 3,600 acre farm. Cowlitz Farm provided food for the Hudson’s Bay Company’s other settlements, and also a place many of their employees and their families settled after their terms of service were up. From May to October of 1834, he worked as woodcutter, hunter, carpenter, and messenger during Fort Nisqually’s construction, while also maintaining his own crops, and continuing to oversee Cowlitz Farm. Used as the main port for the company’s agriculture shipping, today’s Cowlitz Landing was originally called Plamondon’s Landing.
Once the farm became successful, and the settlers were better established, many of the French Canadian workers began petitioning the Catholic Church to send missionaries. Simon helped build the first mission, Wolf’s Head, and, many report, walked the 3000 miles to Manitoba, Canada to lead the priests back to the Cowlitz settlement. On December 16, 1838, the first mass was held at the Plamondon home, and in 1939, Simon helped build Washington’s first permanent church, St. Francis Xavier Mission. He remained active in the church the rest of his life, and in 1850 was elected a trustee. Today, a marker in the pioneer cemetery near the missions of St. Francis and St. Mary bears his name.
Although illiterate, Simon spent the next several years shaping Lewis County history. He attended the August 1845 provisional government meeting as the elected representative of Cowlitz Prairie, where the settlers and Hudson’s Bay Company designated all land north of the Columbia River the Vancouver District. In December of 1845, his signature, a distinctive X, appeared on provisional government paperwork, creating Lewis County. In fact, all of Oregon and Washington territories’ earliest documents carried his mark. Later, he held positions in both Washington Territorial and Lewis County governments.
Simon was widowed again in the mid-1840s and in 1848, he married Bishop Blanchet’s niece, Louise Henriette Pelletier, whom had just arrived to the area. With most of his children married or established outside the family home he was able to still lead an adventurer’s life. In 1848, he traveled as a legislative representative in addition to operating a sawmill and hosting the first brick kiln north of the Columbia on his property. Although she bore him two more children, they didn’t often live together. Once their last son reached school age, Louise moved with him to Oregon City where he received his education from her uncle.
In 1855 and 1856, with his knowledge of Indian dialects and his mutually respectful relationship with local tribes, Simon served as an Indian Agent. Under Governor Stevens’ orders, agents were to use government provisions to care for the recently relocated and disarmed tribes people. When the meager supplies ran out, reports agree that Simon fed the Indians from his own resources. To this day, Plamondon’s descendants possess credit slips amounting to $4000 never reimbursed for his personal investment. After the Indian Wars ended, he continued to advocate for fair treatment of the dislocated Cowlitz. Fears that his trapper’s knowledge of the area would enable him to assist the Indians in an uprising, a government official removed the confiscated arms from his possession.
Simon Plamondon left no journals or personal records. Although naturalized as an American citizen, his origin as a French Canadian working for a British firm meant his name got lost as the earliest of Lewis County pioneers. Simon died three months before his 100th birthday, leaving his family and historians to sift through tall tales, privately held Hudson’s Bay documents, and the diaries of contemporaries, to piece together this extraordinary man’s life.
