and sufficient. I give only a few of his points.[26] In his answer Dr.
McLoughlin said, concerning his treatment of the missionaries: "What
would you have? Would you have me turn the cold shoulder to the men of
God, who came to do that for the Indians which this Company has
neglected to do?" He said he had tried to prevent the American settlers
remaining idle, becoming destitute, and dangerous to the Company's
servants. Drive them away he could not, having neither the right nor the
power. That these settlers had not come expecting a cordial reception
from him, but quite the contrary; that while he had done some things for
humanity's sake, he had intended to, and had averted evil to the
Company by using kindness and courtesy towards the American immigrants.
As to joining the Provisional Government he showed the necessity and
wisdom of his actions under the circumstances. To the accusation that
the Company had submitted to insult, he said: "They were not to consider
themselves insulted because an ignorant man thought he had a better
right than they had." As to the British government, it had not afforded
protection in time, and that it was not the duty of the Hudson's Bay
Company to defend Great Britain's right to territory. The obligation of
the Company's officers, whatever their feelings might be, was to do
their duty to the Company. He admitted helping the immigrants of 1843,
1844, and 1845, and saving the lives and property of the destitute and
sick. He also admitted to assisting the immigrants of 1843 to raise a
crop for their own support and of saving the Company from the necessity
of feeding the next immigration. And he said: "If we had not done this,
Vancouver would have been destroyed and the world would have judged us
treated as our inhuman conduct deserved; every officer of the Company,
from the Governor down, would have been covered with obloquy, the
Company's business in this department would have been ruined, and the
trouble which would have arisen in consequence would have probably
involved the British and American nations in war. If I have been the
means, by my measures, of arresting any of these evils, I shall be amply
repaid by the approbation of my conscience. It is true that I have
heard some say they would have done differently; and, if my memory does
not deceive me, I think I heard Mr. Vavasour say this; but as
explanation might give publicity to my apprehension and object, and
destroy my measures, I was silent, in the full reliance that some day
justice would be done me."[27]
The Governor and the directors of the Hudson's Bay Company apparently
neither understood nor appreciated the conditions in Oregon in 1843, and
in the immediate succeeding years, or Dr. McLoughlin's motives and
humanity in assisting the immigrants. While the Governor in Chief and
these directors were probably men of high character, and, individually,
men of humanity, as representatives of this great trading company, they
seemed to have considered Dr. McLoughlin's actions in assisting the
American immigrants to settle in parts of the disputed Oregon Country by
relieving their distresses, and saving them from suffering and
starvation, as amounting almost to treason to his Country and as being
untrue and false to the Hudson's Bay Company and its interests. They
believed that he had failed to carry out its policies, if not its
express instructions, which they felt he should have followed, as the
chief of its enterprises west of the Rocky Mountains, no matter what the
circumstances were or what the consequences might be. They did not seem
to understand that, if the early immigrants had not been assisted,
helped, and rescued, as they were, by Dr. McLoughlin, it might have been
fatal to Fort Vancouver and precipitated a war between the United
States and Great Britain. As has been already said the Hudson's Bay
Company, under royal grant, had an absolute monopoly in trading with the
Indians in what was called British America, that is, northward and
westward of the United States, excepting the British Provinces and also
excepting the Oregon Country. In the latter the Company had the
exclusive right, under said grant, to trade with the Indians, but on the
condition that it should not be to the prejudice nor exclusion of
citizens of the United States, who had the right to be in the Oregon
Country under the convention of joint-occupancy.[28] Undoubtedly the
Governor in Chief and directors of the Hudson's Bay Company had a
feeling that the Company and its trade should not be interfered with in
the Oregon Country. For more than thirty years it and the Northwest
Company, with which it had coalesced in 1821, had had almost absolute
control of trade with the Indians in nearly all of the Oregon Country.
Its practical monopoly there had been almost as complete as its actual
monopoly in British America. The exercise of absolute power usually
begets a feeling of a right to continue the exercise of such power. The
head-officers of the Company resented the actions of Dr. McLoughlin
which tended to weaken the power of the Hudson's Bay Company and to
interfere with its control of the fur trade in the Oregon Country.
An Indian trading company is much more likely to be mercenary than
humane. The headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company were at London.
Oregon was a long distance from London. Under the conditions it may not
be surprising that greed of gain and selfish interests outweighed
humanity in the minds of these officers in charge of the Hudson's Bay
Company. It is true none of them were in Oregon when these immigrants
came. None of these officers had ever been in the Oregon Country,
excepting Sir George Simpson, the Governor in Chief. These officers did
not see the distresses, the sufferings, or the perils of these
immigrants. Their information came largely from others, who were not
friends of Dr. McLoughlin, and who did not approve his actions. Dr.
McLoughlin had been for so long a time a Chief Factor of the Company; he
had been, up to the arrival of the immigration of 1843, so faithful to
its policies and interests; he had so increased its trade, and added so
largely to its revenues, that he could not be summarily dismissed. But
he was a man of pride and of high quality, and he could be forced to
resign. This the Governor in Chief and the directors of the Hudson's Bay
Company accomplished. In thus acting unjustly to Dr. McLoughlin, they
were unconsciously assisting to make him the eternal hero of Oregon. In
resigning Dr. McLoughlin gave up a salary of twelve thousand dollars a
year. He made his home at Oregon City, where he expected to pass the
rest of his life, with the intention of becoming an American citizen as
soon as possible. He invested his wealth at Oregon City in various
enterprises in an attempt to assist in upbuilding Oregon. His
resignation marks the beginning of his tribulations which ended only
with his death. The details I shall presently set forth. In assisting
the immigrants Dr. McLoughlin did not count the cost nor fear the
consequences. His humanity was greater than his liking for wealth or
position. He had no greed for gain, no selfishness. Had he anticipated
the consequences I believe that he would not have hesitated nor acted
otherwise than he did. Frances Fuller Victor wrote of Dr. McLoughlin and
his tribulations:[29] "Aristocrat, as he was considered by the colonists
[American settlers] and autocrat as he really was, for twenty years
throughout the country west of the Rocky Mountains, he still bravely
returned the assaults of his enemies in the language of a republican. He
defended the American character from the slurs of government spies,
saying, 'they have the same right to come that I have to be here,'
touching lightly upon the ingratitude of those who forgot to pay him
their just debts, and the rudeness of those, whom White mentions as
making him blush for American honor. But whether he favored the
Company's interests against the British, or British interests against
the Company's, or maintained both against the American interests, or
favored the American interests against either, or labored to preserve
harmony between all, the suspicions of both conflicting parties fell
upon him, and being forced to maintain silence he had the bad fortune to
be pulled to pieces between them."
_Dr. McLoughlin's Religion._
When an infant, Dr. McLoughlin was baptized in the Roman Catholic
Church. His father and mother were of that church. While living with the
family of his maternal grandfather, he probably was brought up in the
English Established Church, of which he became a member. Prior to 1841
or 1842, it was his custom, at Fort Vancouver, to read the service of
that church on Sundays to the congregation of officers and employees who
attended. Dr. McLoughlin was a broad man in every way. He recognized the
good in all Christian sects and denominations. He assisted the
Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational missionaries. Had he been a
member of those churches, he could hardly have done more for them than
he did. While still a Protestant, he also assisted the Roman Catholic
missionaries, from their first coming to Oregon, in 1838, as he had the
Protestant. He never tried to change the forms of religion of his
employees and servants of the Company. He encouraged them in their
devotion to the religions of their choice.
Archbishop Francis Norbert Blanchet in his "Historical Sketches of the
Catholic Church in Oregon," says (page 68): "It is but just to make
special mention of the important services which Dr. John
McLoughlin--though not a Catholic--has rendered to the French Canadians
and their families, during the fourteen years he was governor of Fort
Vancouver. He it was who read to them the prayers on Sunday. Besides the
English school kept for the children of the Bourgeois, he had a
separate one maintained at his own expense, in which prayers and the
catechism were taught in French to the Catholic women and children on
Sundays and week days, by his orders. He also encouraged the chant of
the canticles, in which he was assisted by his wife and daughter, who
took much pleasure in this exercise. He visited and examined his school
once a week.... He it was who saved the Catholics of the Fort and their
children from the dangers of perversion, and who, finding the log church
the Canadians had built, a few miles below Fairfield, in 1836, not
properly located, ordered it to be removed, and rebuilt on a large
prairie, its present beautiful site."
Dr. McLoughlin was given charge of a girl by her dying father, who was a
Protestant. Dr. McLoughlin would not send her to a Roman Catholic
school. He respected the religious faith of the girl's father.[30] There
is some question as to whether Dr. McLoughlin became a Roman Catholic in
the year 1841 or 1842. In one of those years, Dr. McLoughlin read "The
End of Controversy," written by Dr. Milner, and was converted by this
book to the Roman Catholic faith and joined that church. He made his
abjuration and profession of faith and took his first communion at Fort
Vancouver in 1841 or 1842. Joining the Roman Catholic Church by Dr.
McLoughlin was most impolitic, at this time, particularly on account of
his land claim. But he was not a man to consider policy when there was
something to be done, which he thought right, just, or proper.
Otherwise, he would not have assisted the missionaries nor helped the
immigrants. Joining the Roman Catholic Church only added to the
opposition to Dr. McLoughlin. He was then a British subject. At that
time there was great prejudice by many Americans against Great Britain
as the supposed hereditary enemy of the United States. The long
discussion of the Oregon Question; the election of Polk as President in
1844, largely on the popular cry of "54-40 or fight," greatly
intensified this feeling. There was also great popular prejudice among
many of the Protestants of the United States against the Roman Catholic
Church, which had been handed down from the time of the settlement of
New England and the Cromwellian revolution in England. Locally, in
Oregon, a partial success of the Roman Catholic missionaries with the
Indians, where the Protestants had failed, probably intensified this
feeling.
In these early immigrations were many women, most of whom were wives and
mothers. There were also numerous children of all ages. There were a few
births on the way. When these mothers saw their children, along the
Columbia River, in peril, many sick and almost famishing; when they
heard their children cry for food and clothing, which these mothers
could not supply; and when these perils were removed, and these
necessaries were furnished by Dr. McLoughlin, and their sick children
were restored to health under his orders and directions; do you think
these Protestant American mothers considered it important that Dr. John
McLoughlin was a Roman Catholic and a British subject? Or that they were
not grateful?
_Dr. McLoughlin's Land Claim._
I shall now take up the matter of Dr. McLoughlin's land claim at Oregon
City. Many writers and speakers have spoken of his land claim being
taken from him, in a loose way, as "unjust treatment," or as "robbery."
I shall briefly state the facts, as I have found them. The early
pioneers know these facts. They should be known by everyone in justice
to Dr. McLoughlin and to his memory.
Prior to the Donation Land Law, there were no lawful titles to lands in
Oregon, except lands given to Missions by the law establishing the
Territory of Oregon. The Donation Land Law was passed by Congress, and
was approved by the President September 27, 1850. Prior to the
organization, in 1843, of the Oregon Provisional Government, the only
law, or rule of law, in Oregon was the Golden Rule, or rather a
consensus of public opinion among the few settlers in Oregon. When a
person settled on a piece of land and improved it, or declared his
intention to claim it, all other settlers respected his possessory
rights. Each settler thought that on the settlement of the boundary line
between the United States and Great Britain, his land claim would be
recognized and protected, which he had thus claimed while there was
joint-occupancy under the Conventions of 1818 and 1827.
It was in 1829 that Etienne Lucier, one of the Hudson's Bay Company's
servants, of whom I have spoken, settled in the Willamette Valley at
French Prairie, now in Marion County. Other servants of the Hudson's Bay
Company, as their terms of service expired, and a few Americans, had
settled at or near French Prairie prior to 1834, so that when the first
missionaries came, there was a thriving, although small, settlement near
where Jason and Daniel Lee established their first mission in 1834. This
mission had no title to the land where the Mission was established, yet
its rights were recognized and respected.
In 1829 Dr. McLoughlin for himself took possession of the land and water
power at the falls of the Willamette River on the east side of the river
at and near what is now Oregon City. In his land claim was the valuable,
but small, island containing about four or five acres of available area
in low water, and two or three acres in ordinary high water. It was
separated from the east bank by a part of the river, in summer not more
than forty feet wide; it was situated near the crest of the falls. Its
location made it valuable for convenient use of water power. This island
was afterwards known as "Governor's Island," but was called "Abernethy
Island" in the Donation Land Law, and is now known by the latter name.
This island is now owned by the Portland General Electric Company. It
lies partly in the "Basin" at Oregon City. On it is now erected a large
wooden building called, by that Company, "Station A." As I have said, in
1825 the Hudson's Bay Company knew that England did not intend to claim
any part of the Oregon Country south of the Columbia River, so it did
not want for itself any permanent or valuable improvements in the
Willamette Valley.
In 1829 Dr. McLoughlin began the erection of a sawmill at the falls. He
caused three houses to be erected and some timbers to be squared for a
mill. This work continued until May, 1830. In 1829 the Indians there
burned these squared timbers. In 1832 he had a mill-race blasted out of
the rocks from the head of the island. It has been asserted that these
improvements were made for the Hudson's Bay Company, but were
discontinued by it because it did not wish to erect valuable
improvements there. But in the McLoughlin Document he says: "I had
selected for a claim, Oregon City, in 1829, made improvements on it, and
had a large quantity of timber squared." Who ever knew or heard of Dr.
McLoughlin telling a lie? That he was a man of the highest honor and
truthfulness is established beyond all doubt. This claim was taken by
him in the same year that Lucier settled in the Willamette Valley. It is
evident that Dr. McLoughlin took this claim, for his old age and for the
benefit of himself and children.[31] From about 1838 until the passage
of the Donation Land Law in 1850, he openly and continuously asserted
his right to his land claim, including Abernethy Island. No adverse
claim was made until about July, 1840, less than sixty days after the
arrival of the ship Lausanne, when certain members of the Methodist
Mission began to plan to take these lands and rights from Dr.
McLoughlin, and in the end succeeded, but only partially for themselves.
Dr. McLoughlin's right to his land claim was as good as that of any
other person in Oregon to his own land claim. April 1, 1843, Dr. Elijah
White, who came to Oregon in 1837, as a Methodist missionary, but was
then United States Sub-Agent of Indian Affairs, in an official report to
the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, at Washington, D. C., said of the
Shortess petition, to which I shall presently refer: "A petition started
from this country today, making bitter complaints against the Hudson's
Bay Company and Governor McLoughlin. On reference to it (a copy was
denied) I shall only say, had any gentleman disconnected with the
Hudson's Bay Company been at half the pains and expense to establish a
claim on the Wallamet Falls, very few would have raised any
opposition."[32] Under the joint-occupancy every British subject had the
same or equal rights in the Oregon Country that a citizen of the United
States had.
December 18, 1839, Senator Linn introduced a series of resolutions in
the United States Senate, which were referred to a select Committee.
March 31, 1840, this Committee reported a substitute. The chief feature
was a provision for granting _to each male inhabitant_ of Oregon, over
eighteen years of age, one thousand acres of land. December 16, 1841,
Senator Linn introduced his famous bill thereafter known as the "Linn
Bill," which granted six hundred and forty acres of land to every _white
male inhabitant_ of Oregon, of eighteen years or over, who should
cultivate the same for five years. This bill was favorably reported back
to the Senate and subsequently passed the Senate, but failed in the
House. The Oregon Donation Land Law was largely based on this bill. In
neither the Linn resolution nor in the Linn bill was any difference made
between American citizens and British subjects, or other aliens as to
the right to take land. The Oregon Donation Land Law of September 27,
1850, applied to every white settler (including aliens) over eighteen
years of age then a resident of Oregon, or who should become such a
resident prior to December 1, 1850, except Dr. McLoughlin. In case of an
alien he must either have made his declaration, according to law, to
become a citizen of the United States prior to the passage of the
Donation Land Law or do so prior to December 1, 1851. The Linn bill was
largely instrumental in causing the early immigrations to Oregon. It was
felt by these immigrants that it, or a similar law, was bound to pass
Congress. The Oregon Donation Land Law was such a law. Dr. McLoughlin
believed that such a bill was bound to become a law.
The Methodist Mission, as a mission, did not, officially, attempt to
deprive Dr. McLoughlin of any of his land. There were some of the
missionaries who opposed any such action. But others of them saw that if
the Mission obtained any of Dr. McLoughlin's land claim, it would belong
to the Mission or to the Church, so they readily proceeded, as
individuals, for their own private gain. In 1840, shortly after the
arrival of the Lausanne, Rev. Jason Lee, as Superintendent of the
Methodist Mission, appointed Rev. A. F. Waller to labor for the Indians
at Willamette Falls and vicinity. The Mission took up a claim of six
hundred and forty acres north of Dr. McLoughlin's claim. The Mission's
religious work was done by Waller on this claim, where Gladstone Park is
now situated, and also at a point on the west bank of the Willamette
River opposite Oregon City. At both of these places there were a number
of Indians.[33] In the summer of 1840 Waller was sent to establish this
Mission. Dr. McLoughlin generously assisted the undertaking. He gave the
Mission a piece of land in his claim on which to erect a mission-house;
and, at the request of Rev. Jason Lee, the Superintendent of the
Mission, Dr. McLoughlin loaned it some of the timbers, which he had
caused to be squared, to build the mission-house. Timbers to take the
place of those so loaned were never furnished to Dr. McLoughlin, nor
were the timbers ever paid for.[34] It was soon reported to Dr.
McLoughlin that the Methodist Mission would try to take or to jump his
claim. He at once (July 21, 1840) notified Jason Lee, Superintendent of
the Mission, of the facts: That Dr. McLoughlin had taken possession of
this land claim in 1829, and also of his intention to hold this land as
a private claim. He gave Lee the general description of the land so
claimed by Dr. McLoughlin, viz: "From the upper end of the falls across
to the Clackamas river, and down where the Clackamas falls into the
Willamette, including the whole point of land, and the small island in
the falls on which the portage was made." This is the island later known
as "Governor's" or "Abernethy" Island. After giving the notice
mentioned, Dr. McLoughlin concluded his letter with these words: "This
is not to prevent your building the store, as my object is merely to
establish my claim." A satisfactory answer was returned and Waller
proceeded in the erection of the mission-house, which was divided into
two apartments, one of which served as a dwelling, and the other as a
storeroom for the goods of the Mission.[35]