Show jqhn v the Z by ELMO SCOTT WATSON newspapers in many parts of the united states printed this story OREGON CITY cirr OKE naturalize tion papers of dr john mcloughlin rather father ot of oregon have been ered in the vaults of tile the county re rc corders office here doctor mcloughlin factor of the 5 british hudson hay bay fur company ill ho american settlers in oregon in the early days when the tur fur post was discontinued after oregon wai ceded to the united states doctor ahlin ghlin remained and to took ok a 11 farro farm the naturalization papers were issued by the second district court of oregon territory september 5 isze 11 rack back of that brief news item lies one of the most romantic and significant and at the same time one of the most tragic s stories in american history for this dr jolin john tI cLoughlin was rn more ore than just a factor actor ot of the beitl la 11 hudson eay day than the father fur company es even more of oregon there was a time when ullen lie was waa known far and wide us as the emperor of the west a wilderness king whose word was absolute law over square miles an empire that extended all along the Iaci fic coast from california to alaska and as tar far east as the great salt lake in utah there was a time when he held an influx influence ence over the indians such as no white man had since the days of sir william johnsons dominance over the iroquois on the other side of the continent there was a time when lie by sp speaking ealing a few words could have embroiled the united states stales and great britain in a third war and if that hail had happened it is doubtful it the pacific northwest would now be under the american flag fing hut but he retrained refrained from speaking those words and by retraining saved the lives of hundreds of american settlers and probably thousands of american and british soldiers and sailors thus the romance and the historical cance in the life story of dr john mcloughlin As for the tragedy it was tile the tragedy of a king who lost his kingdom and of a real man without a country a more pitiful figure than the fictitious hero bero of edward everett hales famous book such Is the story in part b back ack of the discovery after more than three quarters of a century ot of the document which made john mcloughlin an american citizen cut but even though he was no longer a min without a country that document could not save him from going to his grave six years later a brokenhearted broken hearted old man the victim of the selfishness and the basest ingratitude 1 on the alie part of those who had best reason to tie be grateful to him the american I 1 settlers he had bea befriended rient leL I 1 the complete story Is told in a new biography which by an interesting coincidence appeared a short time offer after the discovery of the malough ili naturalization m tion papers in the vault in oregon city this blo biography graphy Is the white headed eagle john mcloughlin builder of an empire written by richard G montgomery of portland ore and published by the macmillan company of new york much has been written about me ile falln tile the list of authorities occupies five full pages at tile the end of this biography but mr book Is one of the most authoritative and most interesting word portraits of mcloughlin that has yet appeared mcloughlin was born at riviere du loup some miles below quebec on tile the st lawrence in 1784 his father was an irishman ills his mother a fraser lit in a horn r french drench blood was mixed with the scotch As a boy he was serious minded and very religious with none of the dashing recklessness that eliat characterized tile the men engaged in the business in which he was to become famous the fur trade due to the influence of one of ills his uncles dr simon fraser it appeared certain that young john would become a doctor and at the age of sixteen he began studying medicine although lie he practiced for a while in montreal it soon became apparent that a professional career er in a well settled community held no fascination for him the lads gray eyes were focused on the west there was no hankering hank tring cring for city life in his nature that was largely due to another uncle alexander F fraser who had fiat become prominent in the affairs of the north west company lit which filch had been organized in 1784 the year young john was born to compete with the hudsons Hud sons bay company for the rich prize of the fur trade throughout canada through uncle alexanders influence the young doctor received an appointment as resident physician in the north west company and in the winter of 1604 isoa 04 proceeded to fort william the companas comp anys chief depot and factory on lake superior this marked tile beginning of that thai amazing career which resulted in becoming the emperor of the west from being a medical officer he soon pro progressed gressed to the position of chief trader in 1820 when the bitter rivalry between tile the hudsons Hud sons ray pay company and the north ended in a truce young mcloughlin went to london as a north west representative to drive the bargain which consolidated the two companies ile he then became a hudsons Hud sons lay day man and continued as such through the remainder of his active life F for or a time lie served as chief factor at fort francis on the lake of the then gov george simpson head of the 11 B C Q lecog recognizing agn iz the great ability of the young doctor made him assistant to chief factor alexander kennedy on the columbia river with tile the idea of ills his eventually superseding kennedy there this was all a part of the bold scheme which simpson had in mind I 1 the alerv american can john jacob astor had tailed failed in his attempt to found a fur empire in the pacific northwest and his post astoria at the mouth of the columbia had fallen into the hands of the north west company first and then the tha hudsons Hud sons day bay company the oregon country Os ns held jointly by great britain and the united states but simpson planned to win this vast region with its ts wealth of furs for england but more particularly to bring all the territory west of ct the rocky mountains within a single sin gle hudsons Hud sons boy company jurisdiction cLoughlIn was selected as the instrument to b ring this about and there could have been no letter better one selected from the moment he be took AN 6 wen 6 fa r av jorfi ort vancouver ira n CO U ve r 4 t akk 1 marker in in VA 11 ats a house of dr me m in oregon city Cit yOre ore f i s V if t grave crave stones of dr mcloughlin and his wife the ne gletree ree charge in 1824 abandoned astoria and moved up the river to establish fort vancouver it became apparent that here was the man who could rule both the indians and the turbulent tui bulent nippers and fur traders rule lie he did sternly but justly and the indians who called mcloughlin the white headed eigle eagle because of his shock of snowwhite snow white hair respected and loved him quite as much as they feared him for a period of ten years fort vancouver was the center of a feudal empire the like of which the new world never before and seldom since has seen it was a 8 sanctuary of civilization in the heart of tile the savage western country and to it came many a traveler and explorer whose name Is written large in the history of the west Jed jedediah edlah smith nathaniel J wyeth hall hail J kelly jason lee marcus whitman captain bonneville and a host of others one of the notables who came to vancouver was capt aemilius simpson of the british navy and a symbol of ills his visit Is to be seen near the site of fort vancouver to this day during his sojourn at vancouver simpson unwittingly contributed in no small degree toward the agricultural progress of the community writes montgomery while dining one evening with the doctor he be was reminded by one of his men of a promise he had made a certain young lady back in london it appears that during the dessert course of a farewell banquet given in ills lionor honor this young lady had extracted the seeds from an apple and had laughingly presented them to simpson with the request that he plant them when hen he reached his destination in the northwest wilderness the incident hid had been forgotten until that moment but when the captains attention was called to it by his aide he be reached into his coat pocket and there reposing under his big kid j gloves loves lie he found the little packet of seeds A ripple of laughter ran around the table as he handed them over to his host doctor john was not the ife man to underrate such a gift the very next day he entrusted the apple seeds to robert bruce the venerable scotch gardener of the fort who planted them with great care under glass thus in the spirit of jest the redoubtable white gloved Aern Ae illus made possible the first oregon apple that was years ago one of the trees which spring sprang from those seeds still stands where the venerable robert cruce bruce planted them and it still bears fruit as the writer of this article who took the photograph of it shown above can testify unhappily for mcloughlin other seeds were also being planted in the fertile soil goll of the oregon country and they bore a crop of trouble for him for just when hen lie he was well established as tile the emperor of the west the energetic yankees who ho were to dispute with great britain ownership of tile the northwest began to appear first as competitive fur traders and later as missionaries and settlers the doctor being of a pious disposition he was baptized a catholic his mothers mot liers faith but grew up an episcopalian the faith of ills his father was naturally well disposed toward the missionaries and he be gave both medical and other aid to them when as so often happened in their early days they were in distress for that matter he did the same for the settlers even though be as factor for the hudsons Hud sons day bay company and therefore obligated to consider its interests first would have been justify justified ed by the rules of big business which were even then in vogue in letting them starve instead of doing that he gave generously from his own resources and that very generosity resulted in his downfall governor simpson had never approved of his openhanded open handed hospitality to tile american settlers and that combined with innumerable other disagreements between the head bead of the hudsons Hud sons day bay company and its representative in oregon resulted in 1815 1845 in me mc retirement from the 11 B 0 a retirement ti which seems to have been little more than a summary dismissal in the meantime the american settlers who had bad been coming into oregon in ever increasing robers since 1812 had been beseeching congress to guarantee their land titles on the columbia and had taken steps to form a local government ern ment mcloughlin had become involved la in 1 I 1 A 5 L At cloughlin the political maneuver logs incident to that action and made a number of 0 enemies amon among the future leaders of the new american territory after retiring from the hudson day cay company service he moved to the present site of oregon city where he had every reason to expect that his new neighbors so extensively the recipients of his largess would welcome him as a benefactor rather than spurn him as a fallen auto crat lie ile made the very human mistake of 0 counting too heavily on the religious tolerance and anticipated gratitude of these people for they were protestants and he was a catholic having returned once more to the rell religious fous faith of his youth he was also a british subject and they were roused to a high pitch of patriotic ardor over the oregon boundary dispute although he immediately took steps to become an american el citizen his motives were suspected and there were numerous annoying delays before his final citizenship papers were wee signed but even that did not end his troubles american settlers hid had squatted on some of its his lands and there were disputes over land titles after oregon became a territory its first delegate to congress an enemy of the doctor influenced the passage of legislation the oregon donation land law which cheated 31 cLoughlin out of real estate that was rightfully ills his no wonder that toward the close of his career the embittered old man penned these lines by british demagogues I 1 have been represented its as a traitor for what because I 1 acted as a christian saved american citizens men women and children from the indian tomahawk and enabled them to take farms to support their families american demagogues have been base enough to assert that I 1 had caused american citizens to be massacred by hundreds by the savages 1 I who saved all that I 1 could I 1 could not have done more for the settlers if they had been brothers and sisters to be brief I 1 founded this settlement and prevented a war and for doing this and quietly I 1 was treated by the british in such a manner that from self respect I 1 I 1 resigned my situation in the hudsons Hud sons bay com banys service by which I 1 sacrificed per annum and the oregon land bill shows the treatment I 1 received from the americans the end of ills his troubles came on september 3 1837 when he died peacefully in his home in oregon city five years later the oregon le legislature Ts made partial amends tor for the injustices h he e had suffered by passing an net act which aich permitted his heirs to acquire sill nil of lit hi orl original ginal land claims with the exception of one island upon the payment of 1000 which was designated for the university F fund und of oregon although he Is generally hailed as the ratler father of oregon no monument in keeping with his importance in the history of the pacific northwest has ever been erected in his memory the simple white painted frame dwelling in oregon city where he spent his last days Is preserved as a museum and a memorial to him the inscription on his old fashioned tombstone set in the brick foundations of the brown painted catholic church where he lies baked burled records the fact that he was the pioneer and friend of oregon also the founder of this city the magnificent column at astoria ore honors banors the names of capt robert gray cray of lewis and dark clark and of john jacob astor but not that of dr john mcloughlin the monument bt at wishram wash lists his name along with 40 other dauntless pathfinders path finders and pioneers of varying importance on a grassy plot within the city limits of vancouver wash stands a hexagonal marker on one face of which Is 13 this simple inscription under the influence of dr john mclaughlin ln tic ble 1 I manager of the hudson BOY bay co civilization of washington ton started a at t vancouver A D 18 1825 Z as Is this tribute they might at least have spelled correctly the name of the man of whom till ills latest blogna pher says of all the heroic figures fl agures gures of the early west dr john mcloughlin was the most remarkable As a leader a benefactor and a christian he be was unrivaled and though his life ended in tragedy the passage of time has not only enhanced his greatness but placed him iab with tha charmed circle of our national heroes 0 western newspaper union |