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- John McLoughlin was one of the most influential figures of the fur trade and
- settlement periods of Pacific Northwest history. Chief Factor of the Columbia District of
- the British Hudson's Bay Company, he reigned as a benevolent autocrat, befriended
- Americans, and eventually became an American citizen at Oregon City.
- He was born in Quebec in 1784 and trained as a physician near Montreal. He
- became a physician and traveled to the Northwest region in 1824 as a representative
- of the Hudson Bay Company. Here he occupied the position of Chief Factor from 1825,
- when the regional headquarters of the company was moved from old Fort Astoria to
- Fort Vancouver, until his retirement in 1845.
- During his reign as Chief Factor, Dr. John McLoughlin directed the operations of
- the fur trade in all the country west of the Rocky Mountains and north of the California
- line, as well as the more localized activities of agriculture, livestock raising, sawmilling,
- flour milling, dairying, and salmon fishing. From 1825 to 1843, when the provisional
- government was first established by the settlers in the Willamette Valley, he was the
- undisputed governor of the vast area bounded by the Rocky Mountains on the east,
- Mexican territory (California) on the south, the Pacific Ocean on the west and the
- Russian settlements on the north.
- Dr. John McLoughlin exercised control over the Indians of the region, welcomed
- and provisioned missionaries and settlers, encouraged schools and church instruction
- and for a number of years was the only medical practitioner in the region. His
- contributions to the development of the Northwest region in general and the Oregon
- country in particular make him truly deserving of the title by which he is often referred
- to, “Father of the Oregon”
- In 1857, the man who had ruled an empire two and a half times the size of Texas,
- died broken and bitter. He was 75 at the time. Five years later, in an act of penitence,
- the legislature of the new State of Oregon restored his land to his heirs.
- Time Line
- 1784 - John McLoughlin was born in Riviere du Loup, St. Lawrence, Canada.
- 1798 - Begins medical apprenticeship.
- 1803 - Begins the practice of medicine in Montreal. After a few months attaches himself
- to the North West Company as resident physician at Fort William, on Lake Superior.
- 1812 - McLoughlin marries Marguerite Waden McKay, by whom he had four children.
- 1821 - North West Company merges with Hudson's Bay Company. McLoughlin is put in
- charge of Hudson's Bay Company's Fort William on Lake Superior.
- 1824 - The Hudson's Bay Company sends McLoughlin west to become Chief Factor of
- the Columbia District with headquarters then at Fort George, at the mouth of the
- Columbia River.
- 1825 - The headquarters are transferred to Ft. Vancouver.
- 1827 - McLoughlin oversees the building of the first lumber mill in the Pacific Northwest.
- 1829 - The Hudson's Bay Company, under Dr. McLoughlin, takes a land claim at The
- Falls and encourages former trappers to settle nearby in French Prairie.
- 1834 - Jason Lee is welcomed and aided by Dr. McLoughlin.
- 1836 - Marcus and Narcissa Whitman are welcomed to Fort Vancouver by Dr.
- McLoughlin.
- 1842 - McLoughlin surveys and lays out the town site of Oregon City, replacing the
- commonly used name of Willamette Falls.
- 1842 - John McLoughlin, Jr. (the doctor's second son) is shot and killed.
- 1842 - Doctor McLoughlin becomes a Roman Catholic.
- 1842 - The first four American migrations (1842 - 1845) are protected, aided and supplied
- by Dr. McLoughlin.
- 1843 - Hudson's Bay Company opens a store in Oregon City.
- 1844 - Oregon City is incorporated by the Provisional Government.
- 1846 - McLoughlin leaves service of Hudson's Bay Company and takes up residence at
- Oregon City.
- 1848 - Joseph McLoughlin (oldest child of Dr. McLoughlin) dies near Champoeg,
- Oregon.
- 1849 - John McLoughlin and Robert Moore make application to the county court to
- keep a ferry across the Willamette River to and from Oregon and Linn counties.
- 1849 - McLoughlin makes Declaration of Intention to become an American citizen.
- 1850 - A clause is inserted into the Oregon donation land law which strips McLoughlin of
- his land claim near Willamette Falls.
- 1851 - McLoughlin becomes an American citizen.
- 1851- Doctor McLoughlin is elected mayor of Oregon City.
- 1857 - Doctor John McLoughlin dies.
- 1889 - A portrait of John McLoughlin is accepted by Governor Pennoyer and placed in
- the Oregon Senate chamber.
- 1941 - The McLoughlin house is designated as a National Historic Site by the United
- States Department of the Interior.
- 1953 - A statue of Dr. John McLoughlin is unveiled in the National Statuary Hall in
- Washington D.C.
- 1957 - Dr. John McLoughlin given title Father of Oregon by Oregon Legislative
- Assembly.
- 1970 - Dr. and Mrs. John McLoughlin's graves are moved to Oregon City.
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- Words: 808
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