John McLoughlin

Dr. John McLoughlin was born on October 19, 1784. He studied as a medical apprentice and was admitted to practice at age 19. In 1803 he was hired as a physician at Fort William, a fur-gathering post of the North West Company on Lake Superior. There he became a trader and mastered the Indian languages. In 1814 he became a partner in the company and was instrumental in the negotiations leading to its 1821 merger with the Hudson Bay Company.

• In 1824 McLoughlin was appointed head of the Columbia Department, which comprised 600,000 square miles from Spanish California to Russian Alaska.
• Before the provisional government was established, McLoughlin was the chief authority in the vast Northwest.
• 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.
• He welcomed new settlers, especially the missionaries, often lending them seed and grain. He also developed saw and grist mills in Oregon City and in 1845 built a home there.
• When Oregon City became the capital of the American provisional government, McLoughlin acknowledged its authority. This led to his resignation in 1845 from the British-controlled Hudson Bay Company.
• In 1849 he became an American citizen.
• He died in his Oregon City home on September 3, 1857.