Outpost: John Mcloughlin And The Far Northwest

Dr. John McLoughlin chief factor at Fort Vancouver (1824-45) and the strongest arm of the Hudsons Bay Company in a colonial Pacific Northwest was a man easily mythologized yet poorly known. The man now called "The Father of Oregon " was cast out first by his company and later deserted by the pioneers he had unstintingly aided. Born in 1784 in a village near Quebec John McLoughlin found himself between two worlds throughout his life. The son of an illiterate Catholic farmer and a well-born Protestant mother he had just completed his training as a doctor when an offense he gave to a British soldier made it prudent for the eighteen-year-old to leave Quebec quickly. He struck out for the fur country as a company doctor and clerk. A skilled leader he advanced through posts in the North West Company and the Hudsons Bay Company. He came to the Pacific Northwest in 1824 with his family where he established the HBC headquarters at Fort Vancouver. From here he monitered HBC interests from California to Alaska. Known for his compassion and blistering temper he kept peace made money for the company and defended HBC (British) interests in the region. He assisted starving exhausted Oregon Trail settlers maintaining even relations with them while America and Great Britain decide the prickly question of national bounderies. In 1845 during a year of great personal tragedies he was maneuvered out of his position by forces within the HBC through a massive business reorganization. After leaving the company he built a home on a land claim in Oregon City became a citizen of the United States and ran several businesses of his own. Yet he was painted as a "foreigner" who had profited from the destitution of the first pioneers. A law passed by Congress in 1850 confirmed all claims except McLoughlins and he lost his estate. Prior to his death in 1857 he said "I might better have been shot 40 years ago than to have lived here and try to build up a family and estate in this government."