FootNote
The new kid on the block, FootNote is known for digitizing historical
documents... many of which are genealogical gems. With naturalizations,
city directories, war records, newspapers, town records, etc... this new
kid is quickly being recognized as an alternative to Ancestry.
While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
Growth, Power
and Purposes of British Fur Companies
The American government made no effort to
retake the captured fort until the close of
the war of 1812, when, under the treaty of
Ghent, which stipulated that "all territory,
places and possessions, whatsoever, taken by
either party from the other during the war,
or which may be taken after the signing of
the treaty, shall be re-stored without
delay." Mr. Astor applied to the government
for the restitution of his property, since
he wished to resume operations on the
Columbia River and carry out the plan of
American occupation which had been so well
begun. In July, 1815, notice was given the
British government that steps would be taken
to reoccupy the captured fort, but no
official response was received. For two
years no active measures were taken, but in
1817 the United States government dispatched
the war sloop Ontario to the Pacific, to
receive the surrender of the fort in
accordance with the terms of the treaty of
Ghent. This brought matters to a crisis, and
a spirited discussion of the subject of
title to the country followed, involving the
question of abstract rights by discovery and
absolute right by possession, both parties
claiming tinder both titles. The claim of
the United States was fourfold: First, as a
portion of Louisiana, purchased from France
in 1803; second, by right of discovery by
the Spanish explorers Ferrelo in 1543, and
later by Perez; Aguilar, Heceta, Bodega,
Quadra, and others, the benefit of whose
discoveries accrued to the United States by
the Florida purchase made in 1819, though
the title was not asserted in the first
negotiations, as the settlement was made
subsequent to the first temporary
settlement; third, by the discovery of the
Columbia River by Captain Robert Gray, in
1792; and fourth, by reason of the
explorations of Lewis and Clark and the
establishment of forts at Astoria and two
other points by the Pacific Fur Company. It
was denied that the sale of these forts
under duress of threatened capture by a man
of war was such as to affect the right of
the United States to the benefits to be
derived from settlements made by its
citizens, especially since the terms of
peace provided that the forts should be
surrendered to the United States government.
On the contrary, Great Britain claimed that
the country north of the forty-second
parallel was originally discovered by
Francis Drake in 1578. To make this claim
effective it was necessary to
deny that the prior voyage of Ferrelo had
extended as far north as the Oregon line.
Since the coast had also been explored by
Cook and Vancouver, and had been visited by
Meares and other English fur traders, all
between 1775 and 1793, these facts were
urged as supplementing the original
discovery of Drake. It was also necessary to
deny that Gray had discovered the Columbia
River, and to do this it was claimed that
the entrance of the river by him was but one
step in a series; that the discovery was a
successive one, participated in by Heceta,
Meares, Vancouver, Gray and Broughton.
Britain's claim by right of possession was
based upon the establishment, in 1805, of a
fort on Fraser Lake by an agent of the
Northwest Company, and the purchase by the
same company, of the property of the Pacific
Fur Company. The Northwest Company then held
possession of the Columbia region by means
of forts at Astoria and other points along
the river. With these rights and equities on
both sides, a complete surrender by either
was impossible, and after full discussion a
treaty of joint possession for ten years was
agreed upon, October 20, 1818, by which
nominal possession of Astoria was given to
the United States, but actual possession and
ownership was to remain in the Northwest
Company. "By this act," says Judge Deady,
"the two high contracting parties virtually
admitted to the world, that neither of them
had any perfect or acknowledged right to any
country westward of the Stony Mountains, or
that at most, they had but a claim of right
to some undefined part of that comparatively
unknown region. This convention, apparently
acting upon the admission that neither party
had any definite right to the country and
that like any other unsettled and unowned
portion of the globe it was open to
occupation by the first comer, expressly
recognized the right of the people of both
nations to occupy it, for the time being, at
pleasure."
Thus was sanctioned that occupation of the
country by Great Britain which was
practically commenced in 1813 by the
transfer of the property and business of the
Pacific Fur Company to the Northwest Fur
Company; and from that date until the
government of the pioneers was established,
trade, commerce and colonization were
decidedly in favor of Great Britain. The
English sought to occupy the country for the
purpose of carrying on the fur trade with
the natives. It was to be kept from the
plough and the sickle and preserved as a
breeding ground for fur-bearing animals,
except so far as the limited necessities or
convenience of the fur traders might
otherwise require. For several years the
Northwest Fur Company was the dominant power
in the country. Its operations were
conducted on a thorough system by which it
was soon developed into a powerful and
wealthy corporation. All its managing agents
were interested partners, who naturally did
their utmost to swell the business. In the
plenitude of its power, - about 1818, - it
gave employment to two thousand voyagers,
while its agents penetrated the wilderness
in all directions in search of furs.
Meanwhile the older Hudson's Bay Company was
becoming a strong competitor for the
possession of the fur regions of Oregon. The
struggle for supremacy became very bitter.
The two companies had grown too large to be
tolerant of each other, and mutual hostility
springing out of a fierce spirit of
commercial rivalry finally led to a state of
actual war in which each sought to destroy
its competitor by actually killing the men
and by exciting the Indians to do so.
Parliament realizing the precarious state of
affairs put an end to the bloody feud, in
1821, by consolidating the rival companies
under the name of "The Honorable Hudson's
Bay Company." By this measure was created an
organization far more powerful than either
had been before, and England gained a united
and potent agent for the advancement of her
interests in America.
A short time prior to consolidation the
Northwest Fur Company established a post on
the north bank of the Columbia, some miles
above the mouth of the Willamette, which was
christened Fort Vancouver. In 1823 the
headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company was
removed from Fort George (Astoria) to Fort
Vancouver, the latter being a more eligible
and accessible point for sea-going vessels,
and the center and natural converging point
of trapping parties coming down the Columbia
from the vast wilderness to the east. Here
for full twenty years this great corporation
held almost undisputed sway. It had its
factors, agents, traders, voyagers and
servants, all working in perfect harmony to
advance the interests and increase the
powers of this giant monopoly, and to
destroy every competitor who
attempted to trade with the natives for
peltries and furs. Its policy was one of
uncompromising hostility toward every person
or company who interfered with its traffic,
or who questioned its exclusive right to
trade with the natives within the territory
of Oregon. It had at the time the treaty of
1846 was made, twenty-three forts and
trading posts judiciously located for
trading with the Indians and trappers in its
employ. It had fifty-five officers and five
hundred and thirteen articled men under its
control, all working together to maintain
its supremacy and power. The Hudson's Bay
Company and all of its servants within the
limits of Oregon were, moreover, under the
protecting care of the British government.
Parliament, at an early day after the joint
occupation of the country commenced, had
extended the colonial jurisdiction and civil
laws of Canada over all British subjects
within the disputed territory. Magistrates
were appointed to administer and execute
those law, who exercised jurisdiction in
civil cases where the amount in controversy
did not exceed x'200 sterling, and in
criminal cases the same magistrates were
authorized to commit persons accused of
crime and send them to Canada for trial. In
all matters of mere police and trade
regulation the company exercised an
authority as absolute as that of the Czar of
Russia, and flogging was a common punishment
which any officer from the governor of the
company down to the petty clerk of a trading
fort might inflict upon any one of the rank
and file of employees.
From 1823 to 1845 Dr. John
McLoughlin1 was
chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company
west of the Rocky Mountains. He was, in many
respects, a grand character, and time has
proven how just was his exercise of almost
unlimited power. For more than two decades
he did more than anyone else to preserve
order, peace and good will among the
conflicting and sometimes lawless elements
of population, and well fitted was he to
govern both by fear and love. So absolute
was his authority that prior to the
settlement of the Willamette Valley by
Americans, no legal forms were thought
necessary, except such as made by the
company's grants, full power being given to
the chief actor and council to try and
punish all offenders belonging to the
company or within the Hudson's Bay
territory. Dr. McLoughlin settled all
disputes, and the Canadians and other
servants of the company yielded without
question to his right to judge and punish.
He was a strict and stern disciplinarian,
yet his use of authority was rarely, if
ever, abused. Purely personal interest would
have led him to throw every obstacle in his
power in the way of settlement of the
country by American citizens, but his
kindness of heart would not permit him to
refuse aid to those in distress, and the
early American emigrants found in him one
who at the sacrifice of his own interest was
ever ready to lend them assistance and
protection. His humanity in this regard
caused him to be misrepresented in England
and brought him into so much disfavor with
the Hudson's Bay Company that he was finally
compelled to resign his position.
It has been deemed necessary thus fully to
describe the great power and firm foothold
secured in Oregon by the Hudson's Bay
Company, in order to give an adequate idea
of the great task which lay before any
American company which might seek to compete
with it in its chosen field. Long
before the period of joint occupancy of the
territory had expired British control had
become well nigh complete. The interest of
the United States had not been promoted in
any way, except as already stated by the
Florida purchase of 1819, which carried with
it the Spanish title to the territory north
of the forty-second parallel. In Congress,
however, the Oregon question was
spasmodically discussed and much
correspondence passed between the two
governments. The United States urged its
Spanish title as its right to the country by
original discovery, also that the mouth of
the Columbia River was ours by dual right of
discovery and settlement, and, therefore,
following the general rule which had been
observed by European nations in colonizing
America, all the country tributary to the
river and its confluents was also subject to
our dominion. As the Columbia sweeps
northward to the fifty-third parallel, it
was urged that, by this title alone, the
government had undisputed right to the whole
region lying between the forty-second and
fifty-third parallels. In 1820 Russia
asserted exclusive title on the coast from
the Arctic Ocean as far south as the
fifty-first parallel; a claim which was
protested by both England and the United
States, but in the negotiations which
followed, the Russian title was fully
acknowledged by both governments, as far
south as fifty-four degrees and forty
minutes, which at once became the northern
limit of the claim of the United States.
1 Hon. William H. Rees,
an Oregon pioneer of 1844, and personally
acquainted with Dr. McLoughlin, in an
address before the Oregon Pioneer
Association in 1879, said of him: "Dr.
McLoughlin was no ordinary personage. Nature
had written in her most legible hand
preeminence in every lineament of his strong
Scotch face, combining in a marked degree
all the native dignity of an intellectual
giant. He stood among his pioneer
contemporaries like towering old Hood amid
the evergreen heights that surround his
mountain home-a born leader of men. He would
have achieved distinction in any of the
higher pursuits of life. He was born in the
District of Quebec, Canada, in 1784, of
Scotch parentage, reared under the influence
of the Angelican or Episcopal Church, of
which he remained a member until November,
1842. At that date he became connected with
the Catholic Church, of which he continued a
devout communicant during the remaining
years of his long and eventful life. Dr.
McLoughlin had received a liberal education
and was a regular bred physician, in statute
above six feet, weighing some 250 pounds;
his head was large, his commanding eye of a
bluish gray, a fair florid complexion; his
hair had been of a sandy color, but when I
first met him at Vancouver, in the fall of
1844, then sixty years of age, his great,
luxuriant growth of hair was white as snow.
A business requiring a residence among the
wild native tribes necessarily made the
regulations governing the service of the
company partake more of the martial than the
civil law. Dr. McLoughlin was a strict
disciplinarian and in his bearing decidedly
military in suggestion; his standard of
honor was unviolated truth and justice. The
strong distinguishing traits of his
character were true courage, a clear, quick
perception and firm reliance. He never
hesitated in taking upon himself great
responsibilities when in his judgment
occasion required it. The regulations of the
Hudson Bay Company required its officers to
give one year's notice of their intention to
quit the service. This notice the Doctor
gave at the beginning of 1845 and the
following year established himself upon his
land claim in Oregon City, where he had
already built a residence, large flouring
mill, saw mills and store houses. Having
located his land claim in 1829, he first
made some temporary improvements thereon in
1830. These enterprises gave to the pioneer
town quite a business-like appearance at the
time of my arrival in the country, and
employment to quite a goodly number of needy
emigrants. The Doctor's religion was of that
practical kind which proceeds from the heart
and enters into the duties of every-day
life; his benevolent work was confined to no
church, sect nor race of men, but was as
broad as suffering humanity; never refusing
to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and
provide for the sick and toil-worn emigrant
and needy settler who called for assistance
at his old Vancouver home. Many were the
pioneer mothers and their little ones whose
hearts were made glad through his timely
assistance, while destitute strangers, whom
chance or misfortune had thrown upon these
then wild inhospitable shores, were not
permitted to suffer while he had power to
relieve. Yet he was persecuted by men
claiming the knowledge of a Christian
experience, defamed by designing
politicians, knowingly misrepresented in
Washington as a British intriguer, until he
was unjustly deprived of the greater part of
his land claim.
Thus, after a sorrowful experience of man's
ingratitude to man, he died an honored
American citizen, and now sleeps upon the
east bank of the Willamette, at Oregon City,
in the little yard which encloses the
entrance to the Catholic Cathedral, beneath
the morning shadow of the old gray cliffs
that overlook the pioneer town of the
Anglo-American upon the Pacific Coast; here
resting from his labors within the ever
moaning sound of the mighty cataract of the
beautiful river, while the humble stone that
marks his grave bears this simple
inscription:
DR. JOHN McLOUGHLIN
DIED
September 3rd, 1857, Aged 73 Years.
The Pioneer and Friend of Oregon, also the
Founder of this City.
