Dr. John McLoughlin, the Father of Oregon Part 1

Dr. John McLoughlin, the Father of Oregon.

by Frederick Van Voorhies Holman.

PREFACE

This is a plain and simple narrative of the life of Dr. John McLoughlin, and of his n.o.ble 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 doc.u.ments 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 circ.u.mstances 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 doc.u.ments. 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 a.s.sisted 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 pa.s.sage 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 lat.i.tude forty-two degrees, the present northern boundary of the states of California and Nevada; on the north by lat.i.tude 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 lat.i.tudes 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 Racc.o.o.n arrived at Astoria and took formal possession of it in the name of the King of Great Britain. The captain of the Racc.o.o.n 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 pa.s.sed 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 a.s.sociates 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 princ.i.p.al 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 sh.o.r.e 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 ma.s.sacre 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 quant.i.ties 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 quant.i.ties 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 b.u.t.tresses 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: