Michael Caldwell

A Mustard Seed Sown in a Vast Field Michael Caldwell

On a cold and rainy day in November of 1838, a young, recently ordained priest from Québec paddled into Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River with the Hudson's Bay Company brigade ready to begin his life as the first Catholic missionary in the Pacific Northwest. A Mustard Seed Sown in a Vast Field is both a family saga and an unfolding of North American history, the ordeals of the fur traders, the Hudson's Bay Company, indigenous tribes, Spanish, Russian, British, American explorers, territorial disputes, religious conflict, and the Oregon Trail migration. It is the clash and destruction of colliding cultures and the natural world, and the vision of a young, frail and determined French-Canadian priest to bring salvation to the peoples of the Oregon Territory. The author, Michael Caldwell, has thoroughly researched and documented this historically significant biography and history of the Pacific Northwest.