confounded with Chemawa, the location of the United States Indian Training School on the line of the Southern Pacific Railroad,—though this is a mispronunciation of the old name, in which both a's are long, with a strong tendency toward long e, making the name Chemaewae.
Gervais had substantial buildings, and Labonte's description of his house and barn is very interesting. The house was about 18×24, on the ground, and was constructed of square hewed logs, of rather large size. There were two floors, one below and one above, both of which were laid with long planks or puncheons of white fir, and probably adzed off to a proper level. The roof was made of poles as rafters, and the shingling was of carefully laid strips or sheets of ash bark, imbricated. Upon these were cross planks to hold them in place. There were three windows on the lower floor of about 30×36 inches in dimensions, and for lights were covered with fine thinly dressed deer skins. There was also a large fireplace, built of sticks tied together with buckskin thongs, and covered with a stiff plaster made of clay and grass. The barn was of good size, being about 40×50 feet on the ground, and was of the peculiar construction of a number of buildings on early French Prairie. There were posts set up at the corners and at the requisite intervals between, in which tenon grooves had been run by use of an auger and chisel, and into these were let white fir split planks about three inches thick to compose the walls. The roof was shingled in the same manner as the house, with pieces of ash bark. There was a young orchard upon the place of small apple trees obtained from Fort Vancouver.
At the time that the Labontes came to Chemaway, Etienne Lucier had not yet taken his own place, about three miles above Champoeg, at Chewewa, but was living, or camping, upon the place of Gervais, probably
