Around 1829, discharged servants of the Hudsons Bay Company settled on the Cowlitz Prairie and in the Willamette Valley.  The majority of them were French Canadian Catholics.  The people began writing petitions to Canada in 1834 asking for priests. They wrote again in 1835 and in the spring of 1838

In November 1838, two priests arrived from Canada and Mass was celebrated for the first time in the region then known as “lower Oregon.”  This began the Quebec Mission to Oregon country.  On November 25th they celebrated Mass in the Fort Vancouver school house.  Fathers Blanchet and Demers made the fort their home base and eventually set up a chapel in an old store.

On May 31, 1846, the first church outside the fort was dedicated. The first St. James measured 83 feet long by 36 feet wide and 20 feet high. The brick, stone, and mortar church could accommodate about 500 people (see image). St. James church became a cathedral, in 1850 when the diocese of Nesqually was formed. Most Rev. Augustine Blanchet was named Bishop of Nesqually with residence in Vancouver, Washington Territory.
 

The First St. James Church
Dedicated in 1846
Cathedral for the Diocese of Nesqualy
Measured 83 by 36 feet