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DR. JOHN McLOUGHLIN
[Illustration: DR. JOHN McLOUGHLIN
_Taken from a daguerreotype of Dr. John McLoughlin made in 1856, about a
year before his death. The original daguerreotype belongs to Mrs. Josiah
Myrick of Portland, Oregon, a granddaughter of Dr. McLoughlin._]
DR. JOHN McLOUGHLIN
the Father of Oregon
BY
FREDERICK V. HOLMAN
Director of the Oregon Pioneer Association and of the
Oregon Historical Society
_With Portraits_
Cleveland, Ohio
The Arthur H. Clark Company
1907
COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY
FREDERICK V. HOLMAN
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
_To the true, good, brave Oregon Pioneers of 1843, 1844, 1845, and 1846,
whose coming in the time of joint-occupancy did so much to help save
Oregon and assisted in making it what it is today; whose affections and
regards for Dr. John McLoughlin and whose remembrances and heartfelt
appreciations of his humanity and kindness to them and theirs can and
could end only with their deaths, this volume is most respectfully
dedicated._
CONTENTS
PREFACE 15
TEXT 19
EARLY SETTLEMENTS AND JOINT-OCCUPANCY OF THE
OREGON COUNTRY 20
THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY AND THE NORTHWEST
COMPANY 21
GENEALOGY AND FAMILY OF DR. JOHN McLOUGHLIN 22
McLOUGHLIN AND THE OREGON COUNTRY 25
FORT VANCOUVER 27
PUNISHMENT OF INDIANS 35
EARLY FRENCH CANADIAN SETTLERS 41
EARLY AMERICAN TRADERS AND TRAVELLERS 45
PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONARIES 52
METHODIST MISSIONS AND MISSIONARIES 54
PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 64
IMMIGRATION OF 1842 69
IMMIGRATION OF 1843 70
IMMIGRATION OF 1844 78
IMMIGRATION OF 1845 81
THE QUALITY OF THE EARLY IMMIGRANTS 83
THE RESIGNATION OF DR. JOHN McLOUGHLIN 90
DR. McLOUGHLIN'S RELIGION 98
DR. McLOUGHLIN'S LAND CLAIM 101
ABERNETHY ISLAND 114
THE SHORTESS PETITION 116
LAND LAWS OF THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 119
DR. McLOUGHLIN'S NATURALIZATION 120
CONSPIRACY AGAINST DR. McLOUGHLIN 122
THURSTON'S LETTER TO CONGRESS 123
PROTESTS AGAINST THURSTON'S ACTIONS 137
THE OREGON DONATION LAND LAW 140
THE CONSPIRACY EFFECTIVE 143
CAREER AND DEATH OF THURSTON 144
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH 146
DR. McLOUGHLIN'S MEMORIAL TO CONGRESS 149
THE PERSECUTION CONTINUED 152
THE END OF DR. McLOUGHLIN'S LIFE 154
JUSTICE TO DR. McLOUGHLIN'S MEMORY 159
OPINIONS BY DR. McLOUGHLIN'S CONTEMPORARIES 162
EULOGY UPON DR. McLOUGHLIN 169
ILLUSTRATIVE DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THE TEXT:
A: Article 3 of Convention of October 20, 1818,
between the United States and Great Britain 175
B: Convention of August 6, 1827, between the
United States and Great Britain 175
C: Statement concerning merger of Hudson's Bay
Company and Northwest Company; and grant
to Hudson's Bay Company of 1821 and 1838
to trade in the Oregon Country 176
D: Excerpts from Manuscript Journal of Rev.
Jason Lee 180
E: Rev. Jason Lee's visit to Eastern States in
1838; and his report to the Missionary Board
at New York in 1844 185
F: Excerpts from Narrative of Commodore Charles
Wilkes, U.S.N., published in Philadelphia in
1845 190
G: Letter from Henry Brallier to Frederick V.
Holman of October 27, 1905 196
H: Shortess Petition; excerpts from Gray's
"History of Oregon" relating to Shortess
Petition; and excerpt from speech of Samuel
R. Thurston in Congress, December 26, 1850,
as to author of Shortess Petition 198
I: Ricord's Proclamation; letters of A. Lawrence
Lovejoy and Rev. A. F. Waller of March 20,
1844; Ricord's Caveat; invalidity of Waller's
claim to Dr. McLoughlin's land; and excerpts
from letters of Rev. Jason Lee to Rev. A. F.
Waller and Rev. Gustavus Hines, written in
1844 212
J: Agreement between Dr. John McLoughlin, Rev.
A. F. Waller, and Rev. David Leslie, of April
4, 1844; statement of cause and manner of
making said agreement 224
K: Statement of career in Oregon of Judge W. P.
Bryant 228
L: Letter of Dr. John McLoughlin, published in
the "Oregon Spectator" Thursday, September
12, 1850 229
M: Letter by William J. Berry, published in the
"Oregon Spectator," December 26, 1850 243
N: Excerpts from speech of Samuel R. Thurston in
Congress, December 26, 1850 246
O: Correspondence of S. R. Thurston, Nathaniel J.
Wyeth, Robert C. Winthrop and Dr. John
McLoughlin, published in the "Oregon
Spectator," April 3, 1851 256
P: Letter from Rev. Vincent Snelling to Dr. John
McLoughlin of March 9, 1852 262
Q: Excerpts from "The Hudson's Bay Company and
Vancouver's Island" by James Edward
Fitzgerald, published in London in 1849; and
excerpt from "Ten Years in Oregon," by Rev.
Daniel Lee and Rev. J. H. Frost, published
in New York in 1844 264
R: Note on Authorship of "History of Oregon" in
Bancroft's Works; and sources of information
for this monograph 270
S: Excerpts from opinions of contemporaries of
Dr. McLoughlin 272
INDEX 287
ILLUSTRATIONS
PORTRAIT OF DR. JOHN McLOUGHLIN, taken from daguerreotype
of 1856; from original belonging to Mrs. Josiah Myrick,
Portland, Oregon _Frontispiece_
PORTRAIT OF DR. JOHN McLOUGHLIN, taken from miniature
painted on ivory, 1838 or 1839; from original belonging
to Mrs. James W. McL. Harvey, Mirabel, California.
_facing_ p. 62
PREFACE
This is a plain and simple narrative of the life of Dr. John McLoughlin,
and of his noble career in the early history of Oregon. The writing of
it is a labor of love on my part, for I am Oregon-born. A number of my
near relatives came to Oregon overland in the immigrations of 1843,
1845, and 1846. My father and mother came overland in 1846. The one
great theme of the Oregon pioneers was and still is Dr. McLoughlin and
his humanity. I came so to know of him that I could almost believe I had
known him personally.
He, the father of Oregon, died September third, 1857, yet his memory is
as much respected as though his death were of recent occurrence. In
Oregon he will never be forgotten. He is known in Oregon by tradition as
well as by history. His deeds are a part of the folk-lore of Oregon. His
life is an essential part of the early, the heroic days of early Oregon.
I know of him from the conversations of pioneers, who loved him, and
from the numerous heart-felt expressions at the annual meetings of the
Oregon pioneers, beginning with their first meeting. For years I have
been collecting and reading books on early Oregon and the Pacific
Northwest Coast. I am familiar with many letters and rare documents in
the possession of the Oregon Historical Society relating to events in
the time of the settlement of Oregon, and containing frequent references
to Dr. McLoughlin.
October sixth, 1905, was set apart as McLoughlin Day by the Lewis and
Clark Exposition, at Portland, Oregon. I had the honor to be selected to
deliver the address on that occasion. In writing that address I was
obliged to familiarize myself with exact knowledge of dates and other
important circumstances connected with the life and times of Dr.
McLoughlin. In writing it, although I endeavored to be concise, the
story grew until it went beyond the proper length for an address, and so
I condensed it for oral delivery on McLoughlin Day.
Since that time I have largely rewritten it, and, while not changing the
style essentially, I have added to it so that it has become a short
history. For the benefit of those interested in Dr. John McLoughlin and
the history of early Oregon, I have added notes and many documents. The
latter show some of the sources from which I have drawn, but only some
of them. They are necessary to a thorough understanding, particularly,
as to the causes of his tribulations, and of what is due to him as a
great humanitarian, and of his great services in the upbuilding of
Oregon.
I have been kindly assisted by men and women still living who knew him
personally, by those who gladly bear witness to what he was and what he
did, and by those who have studied his life and times as a matter of
historical interest.
The full history of the life of Dr. John McLoughlin will be written in
the future. Such a history will have all the interest of a great
romance. It begins in happiness and ends in martyrdom. It is so
remarkable that one unacquainted with the facts might doubt if some of
these matters I have set forth could be true. Unfortunately they are
true.
FREDERICK V. HOLMAN
PORTLAND, OREGON, January, 1907.
DR. JOHN McLOUGHLIN
The story of the life of Dr. John McLoughlin comprises largely the
history of Oregon beginning in the time of joint-occupancy of the Oregon
Country, and continuing until after the boundary treaty dividing the
Oregon Country between the United States and Great Britain, the
establishment of the Oregon Territorial Government, and the passage of
the Oregon Donation Law. It relates directly to events in Oregon from
1824 until the death of Dr. McLoughlin in 1857, and incidentally to what
occurred in Oregon as far back as the founding of Astoria in 1811.
Prior to the Treaty of 1846 between the United States and England fixing
the present northern boundary line of the United States west of the
Rocky Mountains, what was known as the "Oregon Country" was bounded on
the south by north latitude forty-two degrees, the present northern
boundary of the states of California and Nevada; on the north by
latitude fifty-four degrees and forty minutes, the present southern
boundary of Alaska; on the east by the Rocky Mountains; and on the west
by the Pacific Ocean. It included all of the states of Oregon,
Washington, and Idaho, and parts of the states of Montana and Wyoming,
and all of the present Dominion of Canada between latitudes forty-nine
degrees and fifty-four degrees forty minutes, and west of the Rocky
Mountains. Its area was approximately four hundred thousand square
miles, an area about twenty-five per cent. greater than that of the
original thirteen colonies at the time of the American Revolution.
_Early Settlements and Joint-occupancy of the Oregon Country._
The first permanent settlement on the Columbia River was made by the
Pacific Fur Company, which was organized and controlled by John Jacob
Astor. It founded Astoria March 22, 1811. October 16, 1813, during the
war of 1812, the establishments of the Pacific Fur Company in the Oregon
Country, and all its furs and supplies, were sold, at less than
one-third of their value, to the Northwest Company, of Montreal, by the
treachery of Duncan McDougal, a partner of Astor in the Pacific Fur
Company. December 1, 1813, the British sloop-of-war Raccoon arrived at
Astoria and took formal possession of it in the name of the King of
Great Britain. The captain of the Raccoon changed the name of Astoria to
that of Fort George. Its name is now Astoria. The Northwest Company
continued to carry on its business at Fort George and at other points in
the Oregon Country until its coalition with the Hudson's Bay Company in
1821.
The treaty of peace between the United States and England at the
conclusion of the war of 1812 was signed at Ghent, December 24, 1814. It
is known as the "Treaty of Ghent." Under this treaty Great Britain, on
October 6, 1818, formally restored to the United States "the settlement
of Fort George on the Columbia River." A Convention between the United
States and Great Britain was signed October 20, 1818. That Convention
provided that the Oregon Country should be free and open, for the period
of ten years, to the citizens and subjects of the two countries, being
what is called for convenience joint-occupancy by the two countries.[1]
Another Convention between the two countries was made in 1827, by which
this joint-occupancy was continued indefinitely, subject to termination
after October 20, 1828, by either the United States or Great Britain
giving to the other twelve months' notice.[2] In April, 1846, Congress
passed a joint resolution giving the President authority, at his
discretion, to give such notice to the British Government. Under the
authority of this resolution President Polk signed a notice, dated April
28, 1846, which by its terms was to go into effect from and after its
delivery to the British Government at London. June 6, 1846, the British
Government proposed the present boundary. This was accepted by the
American Government. The treaty was signed at Washington, June 15, 1846.
_The Hudson's Bay Company and the Northwest Company._
The Hudson's Bay Company was established in 1670 under a charter granted
by King Charles II. The Northwest Company was formed in Montreal in
1783-4. It became the great rival of the Hudson's Bay Company. Warfare
occurred between the two companies, beginning in 1815. A compromise was
finally effected and in 1821 the Northwest Company coalesced with the
Hudson's Bay Company[3]. Dr. McLoughlin was a partner of the Northwest
Company and opposed the coalition in a most determined manner. He would
not sign the final agreement, as he considered it unfair to himself and
to his associates in the Northwest Company. But the Hudson's Bay Company
knew of Dr. McLoughlin, his resolution, his power, and his capacity, and
it employed him as Chief Factor to manage and to build up the Company's
business in the Oregon Country. He was given plenary powers. He was the
man for the place and the time.
_Genealogy and Family of Dr. John McLoughlin._
Dr. John McLoughlin was born October 19, 1784, in Parish La Riviere du
Loup, Canada, about one hundred and twenty miles below Quebec, on the
south side of the St. Lawrence River. He was baptized November 3, 1784,
at the Parish of Kamouraska, Canada, there being no Roman Catholic
priest at La Riviere du Loup. Both of his parents were Roman Catholics.
His father was John McLoughlin, a native of Ireland. Of him little is
now known, excepting that he was a man of high character. He was
accidentally drowned in the St. Lawrence River. The date I have been
unable to ascertain. It was probably while his son John was quite young.
For convenience I shall hereinafter speak of John McLoughlin, the
younger, as Dr. John McLoughlin, or Dr. McLoughlin. His mother's maiden
name was Angelique Fraser. She was a very fine woman. She was born in
the Parish of Beaumont, Canada, and died in Canada, July 3, 1842, aged
83 years. Her father was Malcolm Fraser, a native of Scotland. At the
time of his retirement from the army and settlement in Canada, in 1763,
he was a captain in the 84th regiment of the British regular army. He
was at one time a lieutenant in the 78th regiment, known as the Fraser
Highlanders. He spelled his name with two "f's"--Ffraser. His daughter
was also related to Gen. Fraser, one of Burgoyne's principal officers,
who was killed at the battle of Saratoga, October 7, 1777.
Dr. John McLoughlin's father and mother had seven children, of which
five were daughters; the youngest daughter died while young. He was the
second child, the eldest son, his only brother, David, being the third
child. It is probable that Dr. John McLoughlin and his brother David
were brought up in the home of their maternal grandfather. Their only
maternal uncle was Samuel Fraser, M.D. He was a lieutenant in the Royal
Highland Regiment (the famous "Black Watch" regiment). He took part in
all the engagements fought by that regiment from 1795 to 1803, in the
Napoleonic wars. Their maternal relatives seem to have exercised a
strong influence on both young John and David McLoughlin. They both
became physicians. David served in the British army, and, after the
Battle of Waterloo, practiced medicine in Paris, France. Dr. John
McLoughlin was educated in Canada and Scotland. He joined the Northwest
Company, which was composed and controlled by very active, practical,
and forceful men. In 1821 he was in charge of Fort William, the chief
depot and factory of the Northwest Company, when that Company coalesced
with the Hudson's Bay Company. Fort William is situated on the north
shore of Lake Superior, at the mouth of the Kaministiquia River. It was
at Fort William, where he was stationed for a long time, that he became
acquainted with the widow of Alexander McKay. Dr. McLoughlin married
her, the exact date I have been unable to ascertain. Alexander McKay was
a partner of John Jacob Astor in the Pacific Fur Company. He was killed
in the capture, by Indians, of the ship Tonquin in June, 1811, at
Clayoquot Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver's Island.
Dr. John McLoughlin and wife had four children, whose names in order of
birth were as follows: Eliza, John, Eloisa, and David. They are all
dead. Eliza McLoughlin married Captain Epps, an officer in the English
army. John McLoughlin, Jr., was murdered in April, 1842, at Fort
Stikeen, where he was in charge. Eloisa McLoughlin was Dr. McLoughlin's
favorite child. She was married to William Glen Rae at Fort Vancouver in
1838. Rae was appointed, after his marriage, a Chief Trader of the
Hudson's Bay Company. In 1841 he was sent to California to take charge
of the Company's business at Yerba Buena, now San Francisco. He
continued in charge there until his death in 1844. All of their children
are dead, excepting two--Mrs. Theodore Wygant and Mrs. Josiah Myrick,
both now living in Portland. In October, 1850, Mrs. Rae was married to
Daniel Harvey. There were three children by this second marriage, all of
whom are now dead. Daniel Harvey died prior to his wife. She died at
Portland in October, 1884. In Portland and its vicinity there are now
living several children of Mrs. Wygant and Mrs. Myrick, and also several
grandchildren of Mrs. Wygant. At Mirabel, Sonoma County, California,
there are now living a son, a daughter, and also the widow of James W.
McL. Harvey, a son of Daniel and Eloisa Harvey. A son of Mrs. Myrick is
living at Los Angeles, California. David McLoughlin, the youngest child
of Dr. McLoughlin, was educated in England. He returned to Oregon, and
later made his home in Idaho, where he died at an advanced age.
_Dr. McLoughlin and the Oregon Country._
Physically Dr. John McLoughlin was a superb specimen of man. His height
was not less than six feet four inches. He carried himself as a master,
which gave him an appearance of being more than six feet and a half
high. He was almost perfectly proportioned. Mentally he was endowed to
match his magnificent physical proportions. He was brave and fearless;
he was true and just; he was truthful and scorned to lie. The Indians,
as well as his subordinates, soon came to know that if he threatened
punishment for an offense, it was as certain as that the offense
occurred. He was absolute master of himself and of those under him. He
allowed none of his subordinates to question or to disobey. This was
necessary to conduct the business of his Company, and to preserve peace
in the vast Oregon Country. He was _facile princeps_. And, yet, with all
these dominant qualities, he had the greatest kindness, sympathy, and
humanity. He needed all his stern and manlike characteristics to govern
the officers, employees, servants, and dependents of his Company, and to
conduct its business, in the Oregon Country. Here was a great empire in
physical extent, intersected by great rivers and chains of mountains.
There was no one on whom he could depend, except his under-officers and
the Company's servants. To him were given no bands of trained soldiers
to govern a country half again larger than the Empire of Germany, and
occupied by treacherous, hostile, crafty, and cruel savages; and to so
govern as not to be to the prejudice, nor to the exclusion, of citizens
of the United States, nor to encourage them, nor to help them.
When he first came to Oregon, it was not safe for the Company's parties
to travel except in large numbers and heavily armed. In a few years
there was practically no danger. A single boat loaded with goods or furs
was as safe as a great flotilla had been when he arrived on the Columbia
River in 1824. It was Dr. John McLoughlin who did this, by his
personality, by his example, and by his influence. He had accomplished
all this when the Indian population of the Oregon Country is estimated
to have been in excess of 100,000, including about 30,000 on the
Columbia River below its junction with Snake River, and on the
tributaries of that part of the Columbia River. This was before the
great epidemics of the years 1829 to 1832, inclusive, which caused the
deaths of great numbers of the Indians, especially those living on and
near the lower Columbia River. There were no Indian wars in the Oregon
Country during all the time Dr. McLoughlin was in charge at Fort
Vancouver, from 1824 to 1846. All the Indian wars in the Oregon Country
occurred after he resigned from the Hudson's Bay Company. The first of
these wars began with the Whitman massacre in 1847.
When he came to Oregon, he was nearly forty years old. His hair was then
almost white, and was worn long, falling almost to his shoulders. It did
not take long for the Indians to know him and to give him a name. To
some of the Indians he was the "White-Headed Eagle," and to others, the
"Great White Chief."
_Fort Vancouver._
Dr. McLoughlin came overland to Fort George (Astoria), arriving there in
1824. He soon saw that the place for a great trading and supply post
should be further up the Columbia River. After careful surveys in small
boats, he founded Fort Vancouver, on the north side of the Columbia
River, about seven miles above the mouth of the Willamette River, and
several miles below the point named Point Vancouver by Lieut. Broughtan,
in 1792, the latter point being near the present town of Washougal,
Washington. In 1825 Fort Vancouver was constructed, in part, and the
goods and effects at Fort George were moved to Fort Vancouver. The final
completion of the latter fort was not until a later period, although the
work was carried on as rapidly as possible. A few years after, about
1830, a new fort was erected about a mile westerly from the original
fort. Here is now located the present United States' Military post,
commonly known as Vancouver Barracks.
With characteristic energy and foresight Dr. McLoughlin soon established
at and near Fort Vancouver a large farm on which were grown quantities
of grain and vegetables. It was afterwards stocked with cattle, horses,
sheep, goats, and hogs. In 1836 this farm consisted of 3,000 acres,
fenced into fields, with here and there dairy houses and herdsmen's and
shepherd's cottages. In 1836 the products of this farm were, in bushels:
8,000 of wheat; 5,500 of barley; 6,000 of oats; 9,000 of peas; 14,000 of
potatoes; besides large quantities of turnips (rutabaga), pumpkins,
etc.[4] There were about ten acres in apple, pear, and quince trees,
which bore in profusion. He established two saw mills and two flour
mills near the fort. For many years there were shipped, from Fort
Vancouver, lumber to the Hawaiian Islands (then called the Sandwich
Islands) and flour to Sitka. It was not many years after Dr. McLoughlin
came to the Oregon Country until it was one of the most profitable parts
of North America to the Hudson's Bay Company. For many years the London
value of the yearly gathering of furs, in the Oregon Country, varied
from $500,000 to $1,000,000, sums of money representing then a value
several fold more than such sums represent today.
Fort Vancouver was a parallelogram about seven hundred and fifty feet
long and four hundred and fifty broad, enclosed by an upright picket
wall of large and closely fitted beams, over twenty feet in height,
secured by buttresses on the inside. Originally there was a bastion at
each angle of the fort. In the earlier times there were two twelve
pounders mounted in these bastions. In the center of the fort there were
some eighteen pounders; all these cannon, from disuse, became merely
ornamental early in the thirties.[5] In 1841, when Commodore Wilkes was
at Fort Vancouver, there were between the steps of Dr. McLoughlin's
residence, inside the fort, two old cannon on sea-carriages, with a few
shot. There were no other warlike instruments.[6] It was a very peaceful
fort.
The interior of the fort was divided into two courts, having about forty
buildings, all of wood except the powder magazine, which was constructed
of brick and stone. In the center, facing the main entrance, stood the
Hall in which were the dining-room, smoking-room, and public
sitting-room, or bachelor's hall. Single men, clerks, strangers, and
others made the bachelor's hall their place of resort. To these rooms
artisans and servants were not admitted. The Hall was the only two-story
house in the fort. The residence of Dr. McLoughlin was built after the
model of a French Canadian dwelling-house. It was one story,
weather-boarded, and painted white. It had a piazza with vines growing
on it. There were flower-beds in front of the house. The other buildings
consisted of dwellings for officers and their families, a school-house,
a retail store, warehouses and shops.
A short distance from the fort, on the bank of the river, was a village
of more than fifty houses, for the mechanics and servants, and their
families, built in rows so as to form streets. Here were also the
hospital, boat-house, and salmon-house, and near by were barns,
threshing-mills, granaries, and dairy buildings. The whole number of
persons, having their homes at Fort Vancouver and its vicinity, men,
women, and children, was about eight hundred. The Hall was an oasis in
the vast social desert of Oregon. Fort Vancouver was a fairy-land to the
early travellers, after their long, hard journeys across the continent.
Thomas J. Farnham was a traveller who came to Oregon in 1839. He was
entertained by Dr. McLoughlin at Fort Vancouver. In his account of his
travels, which he subsequently published, he gives the following
description of the usual dinner at Fort Vancouver:
"The bell rings for dinner; we will now pay a visit to the 'Hall' and
its convivialities.... At the end of a table twenty feet in length
stands Governor McLoughlin, directing guests and gentlemen from
neighboring posts to their places; and chief-traders, traders, the
physician, clerks, and the farmer slide respectfully to their places, at
distances from the Governor corresponding to the dignity of their rank
in the service. Thanks are given to God, and all are seated. Roast beef
and pork, boiled mutton, baked salmon, boiled ham; beets, carrots,
turnips, cabbage, and potatoes, and wheaten bread, are tastefully
distributed over the table among a dinner-set of elegant queen's ware,
burnished with glittering glasses and decanters of various-coloured
Italian wines. Course after course goes round, ... and each gentleman in
turn vies with him in diffusing around the board a most generous
allowance of viands, wines, and warm fellow-feeling. The cloth and wines
are removed together, cigars are lighted, and a strolling smoke about
the premises, enlivened by a courteous discussion of some mooted point
of natural history or politics, closes the ceremonies of the dinner hour
at Fort Vancouver."
At Fort Vancouver Dr. John McLoughlin lived and ruled in a manner
befitting that of an old English Baron in feudal times, but with a
graciousness and courtesy, which, I fear, were not always the rule with
the ancient Barons. Dr. McLoughlin was a very temperate man. He rarely
drank any alcoholic beverages, not even wines. There was an exception
one time, each year, when the festivities began at Fort Vancouver on the
return of the brigade, with the year's furs. He then drank a glass of
wine to open the festivities. Soon after he came to Oregon, from
morality and policy he stopped the sale of liquor to Indians. To do this
effectually he had to stop the sale of liquor to all whites. In 1834,
when Wyeth began his competition with the Hudson's Bay Company, he began
selling liquor to Indians, but at the request of Dr. McLoughlin, Wyeth
stopped the sale of liquors to Indians as well as to the whites. In 1841
the American trading vessel Thomas Perkins, commanded by Captain Varney,
came to the Columbia River to trade, having a large quantity of liquors.
To prevent the sale to the Indians, Dr. McLoughlin bought all these
liquors and stored them at Fort Vancouver. They were still there when
Dr. McLoughlin left the Hudson's Bay Company in 1846.
Dr. McLoughlin soon established numerous forts and posts in the Oregon
Country, all of which were tributary to Fort Vancouver. In 1839 there
were twenty of these forts besides Vancouver. The policy of the Hudson's
Bay Company was to crush out all rivals in trade. It had an absolute
monopoly of the fur trade of British America, except the British
Provinces, under acts of Parliament, and under royal grants. But in the
Oregon Territory its right to trade therein was limited by the
Conventions of 1818 and 1827 and by the act of Parliament of July 2,
1821, to the extent that the Oregon Country (until one year's notice was
given) should remain free and open to the citizens of the United States
and to the subjects of Great Britain, and the trade of the Hudson's Bay
Company should not "be used to the prejudice or exclusion of citizens of
the United States engaged in such trade."[7] Therefore, as there could
be no legal exclusion of American citizens, it could be done only by
occupying the country, building forts, establishing trade and friendly
relations with the Indians, and preventing rivalry by the laws of trade,
including ruinous competition. As the Hudson's Bay Company bought its
goods in large quantities in England, shipped by sea, and paid no import
duties, it could sell at a profit at comparatively low prices. In
addition, its goods were of extra good quality, usually much better than
those of the American traders. It also desired to prevent the settling
of the Oregon Country. The latter purpose was for two reasons: to
preserve the fur trade; and to prevent the Oregon Country from being
settled by Americans to the prejudice of Great Britain's claim to the
Oregon Country.
For more than ten years after Dr. McLoughlin came to Oregon, there was
no serious competition to the Hudson's Bay Company in the Oregon Country
west of the Blue Mountains. An occasional ship would come into the
Columbia River and depart. At times, American fur traders entered into
serious competition with the Hudson's Bay Company, east of the Blue
Mountains. Such traders were Bonneville, Sublette, Smith, Jackson, and
others. They could be successful, only partially, against the
competition of the Hudson's Bay Company. Goods were often sold by it at
prices which could not be met by the American traders, except at a
loss. Sometimes more was paid to the Indians for furs than they were
worth.
Dr. McLoughlin was the autocrat of the Oregon Country. His allegiance
was to his Country and to his Company. He knew the Americans had the
legal right to occupy any part of the Oregon Country, and he knew from
the directors of his Company, as early as 1825, that Great Britain did
not intend to claim any part of the Oregon Country south of the Columbia
River. The only fort he established south of the Columbia River was on
the Umpqua River. I do not wish to place Dr. McLoughlin on a pedestal,
nor to represent him as more than a grand and noble man, ever true, as
far as possible, to his Company's interests and to himself. To be
faithless to his Company was to be a weakling and contemptible. But he
was not a servant, nor was he untrue to his manhood. As Chief Factor he
was "Ay, every inch a King," but he was also ay, every inch a man. He
was a very human, as well as a very humane man. He had a quick and
violent temper. His position as Chief Factor and his continued use of
power often made him dictatorial. And yet he was polite, courteous,
gentle, and kind, and a gentleman. He was an autocrat, but not an
aristocrat. In 1838 Rev. Herbert Beaver, who was chaplain at Fort
Vancouver, was impertinent to Dr. McLoughlin in the fort-yard.
Immediately Dr. McLoughlin struck Beaver with a cane. The next day Dr.
McLoughlin publicly apologized for this indignity.
_Punishment of Indians._
The policy of the Company, as well as that of Dr. McLoughlin, was to
keep Americans, especially traders, out of all the Oregon Country. The
difference was that he believed that they should be kept out only so far
as it could be done lawfully. But he did not allow them to be harmed by
the Indians, and, if the Americans were so harmed, he punished the
offending Indians, and he let all Indians know that he would punish for
offenses against the Americans as he would for offenses against the
British and the Hudson's Bay Company. Personally he treated these rival
traders with hospitality. In his early years in Oregon on two occasions
he caused an Indian to be hanged for murder of a white man. In 1829,
when the Hudson's Bay Company's vessel, William and Ann, was wrecked on
Sand Island, at the mouth of the Columbia River, and a part of her crew
supposed to have been murdered and the wreck looted, he sent a well
armed and manned schooner and a hundred voyageurs to punish the Indians.
Jedediah S. Smith was a rival trader to the Hudson's Bay Company. In
1828 all his party of eighteen men, excepting four, one of which was
Smith, were murdered by the Indians, near the mouth of the Umpqua River.
All their goods and furs were stolen. These four survivors arrived at
Fort Vancouver, but not all together. They were all at the point of
perishing from exhaustion and were nearly naked. All their wants were at
once supplied, and they received the kindest treatment. When the first
one arrived Dr. McLoughlin sent Indian runners to the Willamette chiefs
to tell them to send their people in search of Smith and his two men,
and if found to bring them to Fort Vancouver, and Dr. McLoughlin would
pay the Indians; and also to tell these chiefs that if Smith, or his
men, was hurt by the Indians, that Dr. McLoughlin would punish them. Dr.
McLoughlin sent a strong party to the Umpqua River, which recovered
these furs. They were of large value. Smith at his own instance sold
these furs to the Hudson's Bay Company, receiving the fair value for the
furs, without deduction. Dr. McLoughlin later said of this event that it
"was done from a principle of Christian duty, and as a lesson to the
Indians to show them they could not wrong the whites with impunity." The
effect of this Smith matter was far-reaching and long-continued. The
Indians understood, even if they did not appreciate, that the opposition
of Dr. McLoughlin to Americans as traders did not apply to them
personally.
Dunn, in his _History of the Oregon Territory_, narrates the following
incident:[8] "On one occasion an American vessel, Captain Thompson, was
in the Columbia, trading furs and salmon. The vessel had got aground, in
the upper part of the river, and the Indians, from various quarters,
mustered with the intent of cutting the Americans off, thinking that
they had an opportunity of revenge, and would thus escape the censure of
the company. Dr. McLoughlin, the governor of Fort Vancouver, hearing of
their intention, immediately despatched a party to their rendezvous; and
informed them that if they injured one American, it would be just the
same offence as if they had injured one of his servants, and they would
be treated equally as enemies. This stunned them; and they relinquished
their purpose; and all retired to their respective homes. Had not this
come to the governor's ears the Americans must have perished."
In 1842 the Indians in the Eastern Oregon Country became alarmed for the
reason that they believed the Americans intended to take away their
lands. The Indians knew that the Hudson's Bay Company and its employees
were traders and did not care for lands, except as incidental to
trading. At this time some of the Indians desired to raise a war party
and surprise and massacre the American settlements in the Willamette
Valley. This could have been done easily at that time. Through the
influence of Dr. McLoughlin with Peopeomoxmox (Yellow Serpent), a chief
of the Cayuses, this trouble was averted. In 1845 a party of Indians
went to California to buy cattle. An American there killed Elijah, the
son of Peopeomoxmox. The Indians of Eastern Oregon threatened to take
two thousand warriors to California and exterminate the whites there.
Largely through the actions of Dr. McLoughlin the Indians were persuaded
to abandon their project.
John Minto, a pioneer of 1844, in an address February 6, 1889, narrated
the following incident. In 1843 two Indians, for the purpose of
robbery, at Pillar Rock, in the lower Columbia, killed a servant of the
Hudson's Bay Company. One of the Indians was killed in the pursuit. The
other was taken, after great trouble. There was no doubt as to his
guilt. In order to make the lesson of his execution salutary and
impressive to the Indians, Dr. McLoughlin invited the leading Indians of
the various tribes, as well as all classes of settlers and missionaries,
to be present. He made the arrangements for the execution in a way best
calculated to strike terror to the Indian mind. When all was ready, and
immediately prior to the execution, with his white head bared, he made a
short and earnest address to the Indians, showing them that the white
men of all classes, Englishmen, Americans, and Frenchmen, were as one
man to punish such crimes. In a technical sense Dr. McLoughlin had no
authority to cause Indians to be executed or to compel them to restore
stolen goods, as in the William and Ann matter and the Jedediah S. Smith
case.
Under the act of Parliament of July, 1821, the courts of judicature of
Upper Canada were given jurisdiction of civil and criminal matters
within the Indian territories and other parts of America not within the
Provinces of Lower or Upper Canada, or of any civil government of the
United States. Provisions were made for the appointment of justices of
the peace in such territories, having jurisdiction of suits or actions
not exceeding two hundred pounds, and having jurisdiction of ordinary
criminal offenses. But it was expressly provided that such justices of
the peace should not have the right to try offenders on any charge of
felony made the subject of capital punishment, or to pass sentence
affecting the life of any offender, or his transportation; and that in
case of any offense, subjecting the person committing the same to
capital punishment or to transportation, to cause such offender to be
sent, in safe custody, for trial in the court of the Province of Upper
Canada. As to how far this law applied to Indians or to others than
British subjects or to residents of the Oregon Country under
joint-occupancy, it is not necessary here to discuss. It certainly did
not apply to citizens of the United States. So far as I can learn, Dr.
McLoughlin was never appointed such a justice of the peace, but he
caused his assistant James Douglas to be so appointed, at Fort
Vancouver.
As under joint-occupancy it was doubtful if either the laws of the
United States or of Great Britain were in force in the Oregon Country,
it was necessary for some one to assume supreme power and authority over
the Indians, in the Willamette Valley, until the Oregon Provisional
Government was established, and over the remainder of the Oregon
Country, at least, until the boundary-line treaty was made. It was
characteristic of Dr. McLoughlin that he assumed and exercised such
power and authority, until he ceased to be an officer of the Hudson's
Bay Company. He did so without question. It is true that this might have
been an odious tyranny under a different kind of a man. Under Dr.
McLoughlin it was a kind of despotism, but a just and beneficent
despotism, under the circumstances. It was a despotism tempered by his
sense of justice, his mercy, his humanity, and his common-sense. No man
in the Oregon Country ever knew the Indian character, or knew how to
control and to manage Indians as well as Dr. McLoughlin did. The few
severe and extreme measures he took with them as individuals and as
tribes were always fully justified by the circumstances. To have been
more lenient might have been fatal to his Company, its employees, and
the early white settlers in the Oregon Country. They were of the few
cases where the end justifies the means. The unusual conditions
justified the unusual methods.
The Oregon Provisional Government was not a government in the true
meaning of the word, it was a local organization, for the benefit of
those consenting. It had no true sovereignty. And yet it punished
offenders. It waged the Cayuse Indian war of 1847-8, caused by the
Whitman massacre. It would have executed the murderers if it had caught
them, although the scenes of the massacre and of the war were several
hundred miles beyond the asserted jurisdiction of the Oregon Provisional
Government. And it would have been justified in case of such executions.
The war was a necessity, law or no law. Every act of punitive or
vindicatory justice to the Indians by Dr. McLoughlin is greatly to his
credit. These acts caused peace in the Oregon Country and were
beneficial to the Indians as well as to the whites, both British and
American, and, in the end, probably saved numerous massacres and
hundreds of lives. Dr. McLoughlin was a very just and far-seeing man. I
shall presently tell how Dr. McLoughlin saved the immigrants of 1843
from great trouble and probable massacre by the Indians.
_Early French Canadian Settlers._
After the death of Dr. McLoughlin there was found among his private
papers a document in his own handwriting. This was probably written
shortly prior to his death. It gives many interesting facts, some of
which I shall presently set forth. This document was given to Col. J. W.
Nesmith by a descendant of Dr. McLoughlin. It was presented to the
Oregon Pioneer Association by Col. Nesmith in 1880. It was printed at
length in the _Transactions_ of that Association for that year, pages
46-55. I shall hereinafter refer to this document as "the McLoughlin
Document." In the McLoughlin Document he says: "In 1825, from what I had
seen of the country, I formed the conclusion, from the mildness and
salubrity of the climate, that this was the finest portion of North
America that I had seen for the residence of civilized man." The farm at
Fort Vancouver showed that the wheat was of exceptionally fine quality.
Dr. McLoughlin knew that where wheat grew well and there was a large
enough area, that it would become a civilized country, especially where
there was easy access to the ocean. Thus early he saw that what is now
called Western Oregon was bound to be a populous country. It was merely
a question of time. It was evidently with this view that he located his
land claim at Oregon City in 1829. If settlers came he could endeavor to
have them locate in the Willamette Valley, and thus preserve, to a great
extent, the fur animals in other parts of the Oregon Country, and
especially north of the Columbia River.
The Hudson's Bay Company was bound, under heavy penalties, not to
discharge any of its servants in the Indian country, and was bound to
return them to the places where they were originally hired. As early as
1828 several French Canadian servants, or employees, whose times of
service were about ended, did not desire to return to Canada, but to
settle in Oregon. They disliked to settle in the Willamette Valley,
notwithstanding its fertility and advantages, because they thought that
ultimately it would be American territory, but Dr. McLoughlin told them
that he knew "that the American Government and people knew only two
classes of persons, rogues and honest men. That they punished the first
and protected the last, and it depended only upon themselves to what
class they would belong." Dr. McLoughlin later found out, to his own
sorrow and loss, that he was in error in this statement. These French
Canadians followed his advice. To allow these French Canadians to become
settlers, he kept them nominally on the books of the Hudson's Bay
Company as its servants. He made it a rule to allow none of these
servants to become settlers unless he possessed fifty pounds sterling to
start with. He loaned each of them seed and wheat to plant, to be
returned from the produce of his farm, and sold him implements and
supplies at fifty per cent. advance on prime London cost. The regular
selling price at Fort Vancouver was eighty per cent. advance on prime
London cost. Dr. McLoughlin also loaned each of these settlers two cows,
the increase to belong to the Hudson's Bay Company, as it then had only
a small herd, and he wished to increase the herd. If any of the cows
died, he did not make the settler pay for the animal. If he had sold the
cattle the Company could not supply other settlers, and the price would
be prohibitive, if owned by settlers who could afford to buy, as some
settlers offered him as high as two hundred dollars for a cow.
Therefore, to protect the poor settlers against the rich, and to make a
herd of cattle for the benefit of the whole country, he refused to sell
to any one.
In 1825 Dr. McLoughlin had at Fort Vancouver only twenty-seven head of
cattle, large and small. He determined that no cattle should be killed,
except one bull-calf every year for rennet to make cheese, until he had
an ample stock to meet all demands of his Company, and to assist
settlers, a resolution to which he strictly adhered. The first animal
killed for beef was in 1838. Until that time the Company's officers and
employees had lived on fresh and salt venison and salmon and wild fowl.
In August 1839, the expedition of Sir Edward Belcher was at Fort
Vancouver. Dr. McLoughlin was not then at Fort Vancouver. He probably
had not returned from his trip to England in 1838-9. James Douglas was
in charge. Although the latter supplied Sir Edward Belcher and his
officers with fresh beef, Douglas declined to furnish a supply of fresh
beef for the crew, because he did not deem it prudent to kill so many
cattle. Sir Edward Belcher complained of this to the British
government.[9] Dr. McLoughlin gave the American settlers, prior to 1842,
the same terms as he gave to the French Canadian settlers. But some of
these early American settlers were much incensed at the refusal of Dr.
McLoughlin to sell the cattle, although they accepted the loan of the
cows. It has been asserted that Dr. McLoughlin intended to maintain a
monopoly in cattle. But if that was his intention, as he refused to
sell, where was to be the profit? The Hudson's Bay Company was a
fur-trading Company. It was not a cattle-dealing Company. If Dr.
McLoughlin intended to create a monopoly, he himself assisted to break
it. That such was not his intention is shown by his helping the settlers
to procure cattle from California in 1836.
In 1836 a company was formed to go to California to buy cattle and drive
them to Oregon overland. About twenty-five hundred dollars was raised
for this purpose, of which amount Dr. McLoughlin, for the Hudson's Bay
Company, subscribed about half. The number of cattle which were thus
brought to Oregon was six hundred and thirty, at a cost of about eight
dollars a head. In the McLoughlin Document he says: "In the Willamette
the settlers kept the tame and broken-in oxen they had, belonging to the
Hudson's Bay Company, and gave their California wild cattle in the
place, so that they found themselves stocked with tame cattle which cost
them only eight dollars a head, and the Hudson's Bay Company, to favor
the settlers, took calves in place of grown up cattle, because the
Hudson's Bay Company wanted them for beef. These calves would grow up
before they were required."
_Early American Traders and Travellers._