Oregon is Paradise

Oregon was some 2000 miles from Independence, Missouri, and although a few might dream of the United States stretching that far, it was too early for most citizens to think of a settled west.  As Congress stated, "Nature has fixed limits to our nation, she has kindly interposed as our western barrier mountains almost inaccessible.  This barrier our population can never pass."  So Britain felt secure in her Oregon Country possession.

Along came Hall Jackson Kelley, a Bostonian without any sense of humor, who imagined himself chosen by God to lead a great migration to Oregon.  In 1831, he organized an emigration society that wrote and published such statements as "Oregon is paradise on earth.  Oregon is America's right of discovery and Divine Providence, all British interlopers must be expelled."  In November of 1832, Kelley himself set off with a handful of followers for the West.

By the time Kelley reached Oregon two years later, (he went by way of New Orleans, Mexico City, and through California!) none of his original party remained - he had fired them all.  Kelley had met a trapper turned horse trader in California named Ewing Young and they picked up a band of reportedly horse thieves on the way to Oregon.

Word of his band's journey preceded them to Fort Vancouver, however, where John McLoughlin gave them a chilly welcome as he assumed the whole gang were criminals.  Kelley was in pretty bad shape on arrival so he was allowed to stay in a filthy hut until a ship took him back to New England in 1825.  The rest were sent to make do outside the camp.

Once back in Boston, Kelley spent the rest of his life bad-mouthing the Hudson Bay Company and McLoughlin, and petitioning Congress for reimbursements of his expenses - he failed.

Next time - the Seed is Planted
____________________________
Today in Pioneer History:  "On December 26, 1820, hoping to recover from bankruptcy with a bold scheme of colonization, Moses Austin meets with Spanish authorities in San Antonio to ask permission for 300 Anglo-American families to settle in Texas.

Two Opposites in Oregon

Two Quebec born agents of the Hudson Bay Company were pioneers in the Oregon Territory of the early 1800s.  John McLoughlin was the stereotypical dour, righteous Scotsman.  At 6 feet 4 inches tall, he was a powerful man.  McLoughlin entered the service of the North West Company (later merged with the Hudson Bay Company) in 1803 as a 19 year old clerk.  Because he was trained in medicine, he also doubled as the company physician, but John's genius was in trading furs with temperamental Indians.  His flowing white locks earned the name "white headed Eagle" and his wife was part Indian as well.

McLoughlin was given control of the western region for Hudson Bay and set up his headquarters at Fort Vancouver where he built a large farm, sawmill, flour mill, and shipyard.  He ruled this self-sufficient domain as a benevolent aristocrat, directing clerks, trappers and French Canadian travelers wanting beaver pelts.

McLoughlin treated the Indians fairly and firmly which earned him their respect and loyalty, and he maintained the peace among hostile tribes.  His goodwill policy toward American settlers in Oregon Country, whether they needed seed or livestock or protection, was not appreciated by his associates and superiors.  John was kind to missionaries, farmers, even those whose interest conflicted with his. 

He resigned from Hudson Bay in 1846, applied for American citizenship and claimed a huge tract of land on the Willamette River.  Congress disallowed his claim, however, and McLoughlin died a bitterly disappointed man in 1857.

Peter Skene Ogden was the son of Tories who had fled from the US to Canada.  He studied law until 1811 (age 17) then ran off to join the North West Company.  Ogden was short, stocky, but powerful and had a taste for violence.  He was sent to Oregon Country to escape prosecution for the murder of a Hudson Bay employee. 

In Oregon he learned Indian diplomacy.  He was in charge of trapping operations for the Snake River area and during this period explored parts of Utah, Idaho, California and Oregon.  Ogden mellowed with age and replaced McLoughlin when he resigned  in the Northwest area.  Ogden helped transfer Oregon Country from Britain to the United States. 

In 1847 Ogden used his influence to rescue survivors of the Marcus Whitman Mission massacre. He is seldom mentioned in history books but left behind a city, a valley, a mountain and a river in Utah to remember him by.

Next time ...Oregon is Paradise
____________________
Today in Pioneer History:  On December 19, 1732,  Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia first published Poor Richard’s Almanack. The book, filled with proverbs preaching industry and prudence, was published continuously for 25 years and became one of the most popular publications in colonial America, selling an average of 10,000 copies a year.

Who Owns Oregon?

Way back in 1791, Yankee "sea peddler" Robert Gray, master of the merchant vessel Columbia, sailed into Nootka Sound in Oregon Territory while pursuing the rich fur trade with China.  Gray was looking for a mighty river of which the Indians had spoken.  On May 11, 1792, Gray crossed the estuary and traveled 30 miles upstream on the river he named for his ship, the Columbia River.  He was the first white man to explore Oregon's interior and claim the entire region for America.

British claims date back to Captain Cook's 1778 voyage along the northwest coast.  He too, sailed into Nootka Sound.  The Nootka Sound Treaty of 1790 recognized Britain's claim to Oregon by Spain.  The British representative, John McLoughlin served from 1824 to 1846 as the chief factor of the Hudson Bay Company in the region stretching from the Alaska border to California and east to the Rockies.  McLoughlin's actual responsibility to the Crown was to discourage American competition and settlement in the region. 

The problem was McLoughlin knew the Americans had as much right to Oregon as anyone else.  In 1818, the entire region was to be jointly occupied by both the Americans and British.  McLoughlin's hospitality allowed travelers seeking help to use Fort Vancouver.  By 1864 the British were ready to concede American ownership of the region between the Columbia River and the Californian border but not above the 49th parallel.  That, they stated could be claimed only by war.  Washington Territory was not for sale!

Next time - Closer look at the men who opened up the Pacific Northwest
______________________
Today in Pioneer History:  On December 8, 1894, humorist James Thurber is born in Columbus, Ohio.  His works include The Owl in the Attic (1931), The Seal in the Bedroom (1932), and My Life and Hard Times (1933). His short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” published in The New Yorker in 1939, became one of his best-known works.