Dr. John McLoughlin - Statues of Historic Figures on Waymarking.com

McLoughlin was born in Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec, of Irish (his grandfather came from Sharagower in the Inishowen peninsular of County Donegal) and French Canadian descent. He lived with his great uncle, Colonel William Fraser, for a while as a child. Though baptized Roman Catholic, he was raised Anglican and in his later life he returned to the Roman Catholic faith. In 1798, he began to study medicine with Sir James Fisher of Quebec. After studying for 4½ years he was granted a license to practice medicine on April 30, 1803. He was hired as a physician at Fort William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay, Ontario), a fur-gathering post of the North West Company on Lake Superior; there he became a trader and mastered several Indian languages.

In 1814 he became a partner in the company. In 1816 McLoughlin was arrested for the murder of Robert Semple, the governor of the Red River Colony, after the Battle of Seven Oaks (1816), though it is often claimed he stood in proxy for some Indians who were blamed. He was tried on October 30, 1818, and the charges were dismissed. McLoughlin was instrumental in the negotiations leading to the North West Company's 1821 merger with the Hudson's Bay Company. He was promoted to the Lac la Pluie district temporarily shortly after the merger.

In 1824 the Hudson's Bay Company appointed McLoughlin as Chief Factor of the Columbia District (which Americans know as the Oregon Country), which comprised 600,000 square miles (1,600,000 km²) between Mexican California and Russian America (Alaska), with Peter Skene Ogden appointed to assist him. At the time, the region was under cooperative settlement of both the United States and Britain. Upon his arrival, he determined that the headquarters of the company at Fort Astoria (now Astoria, Oregon) at the mouth of the Columbia River was unfit. As a replacement he built Fort Vancouver (now Vancouver, Washington) on the opposite side of the Columbia from the mouth of the Willamette River. The post was opened for business on March 19, 1825. From his headquarters in Fort Vancouver he supervised trade and kept peace with the Indians, inaugurated salmon and timber trade with California and Hawaii, and supplied Russian Alaska with produce. Under McLoughlin's management, the Columbia District remained highly profitable, in part due to the ongoing high demand for beaver hats in Europe.

McLoughlin's appearance, 6 foot 4 inches (193 cm) tall with long, prematurely white hair, brought him respect, but he was also generally known for his fair treatment of the people with whom he dealt, whether they were British subjects, U.S. citizens, or Native Americans. At the time, the wives of many Hudson's Bay field employees were Native Americans, including McLoughlin's wife Marguerite. She was the daughter of a Native American woman and a trader named Jean-Eitenne Waddens and the widow of Alexander McKay, a trader killed in the Tonquin massacre.

When three Japanese fishermen, among them Otokichi, were shipwrecked on the Olympic Peninsula in 1834, McLoughlin, envisioning an opportunity to use them to open trade with Japan, sent the trio to London on the Eagle to try to convince the Crown of his plan. They reached London in 1835, probably the first Japanese to do so since the 16th century Christopher and Cosmas. The British Government finally did not show interest, and the castaways were sent to Macau so that they could be returned to Japan.

In 1841, with the arrival of the first wagon train, McLoughlin disobeyed company orders and extended aid to the American settlers. Relations between Britain and the United States had become very strained, and many expected war to break out any time. McLoughlin's aid probably prevented an armed attack on his outpost by the numerous American settlers. The settlers understood that his motives were not purely altruistic, and some resented the assistance, working against him for the rest of his life. The Hudson's Bay Company eventually realized that the increasing numbers of American settlers would result in Ft. Vancouver becoming part of U.S. territory. In response they ordered McLoughlin to move their operation north to Vancouver Island where he ordered James Douglas to construct Fort Camosun (now Victoria, British Columbia, Canada).

McLoughlin was involved with the debate over the future of the Oregon Country. He advocated an independent nation that would be free of the United States during debates at the Oregon Lyceum in 1842 through his lawyer. This view won support at first and a resolution adopted, but was later moved away from in favor of a resolution by George Abernethy of the Methodist Mission to wait on forming an independent country.

After retiring from the Hudson's Bay Company in 1846, McLoughlin moved his family back south to Oregon City in the Willamette Valley. The Oregon Treaty had been ratified by that time, and the region, now known as the Oregon Territory, was part of the United States. The valley was the destination of choice for settlers streaming in over the Oregon Trail. At his Oregon City store he sold food and farming tools to settlers. In 1847, McLoughlin was given the Knighthood of St. Gregory, bestowed on him by Pope Gregory XVI. He became a U.S. citizen in 1849. McLoughlin's opponents succeeded in inserting a clause forfeiting his land claim in the Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 by Samuel R. Thurston. Although it was never enforced, it embittered the elderly McLoughlin. He served as mayor of Oregon City in 1851, winning 44 of 66 votes. He died of natural causes in 1857. His grave is on a bluff above Willamette Falls.

In 1953, the state of Oregon donated a bronze statue of McLoughlin to the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall Collection. The title "Father of Oregon" was officially bestowed on him by the Oregon Legislative Assembly in 1957, on the centennial of his death. Many public works in Oregon are named after him, including:

1. The John McLoughlin Bridge
2. McLoughlin Boulevard, the street name of Oregon Route 99E between Oregon City and Portland
3. Numerous schools
4. McLoughlin's former residence, now known as the McLoughlin House, is today a museum located in Oregon City; it is part of the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.

URL of the statue: Not listed

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