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In 1832 Nathaniel J. Wyeth of Cambridge, Massachusetts,
came overland with a small party, expecting to meet in the Columbia River, a
vessel with supplies, to compete with the Hudson's Bay Company. The vessel
was wrecked in the South Pacific Ocean. She and the cargo were a total loss.
This party arrived at Fort Vancouver in a destitute condition. Although Dr.
McLoughlin knew they came as competing traders, he welcomed them cordially,
supplied their necessities on their credit, and gave Wyeth a seat at his own
table. In Wyeth's Journal of this expedition he says, under date of October
29, 1832: "Arrived at the fort of Vancouver. . . . Here I was received with
the utmost kindness and hospitality by Dr. McLoughlin, the acting Governor
of the place. . . . Our people were supplied with food and shelter. . . . I
find Dr. McLoughlin a fine old gentleman, truly philanthropic in his ideas.
. The gentlemen of this Company do much credit to their country by their
education, deportment, and talents. . . . The Company seem disposed to
render me all the assistance they can." Wyeth was most
hospitably entertained by Dr. McLoughlin until February 3, 1833, when Wyeth
left Vancouver for his home overland. He was accompanied by three of his
men, the others staying at Fort Vancouver. In his Journal under date
February 3, 1833, he says: "I parted with feelings of sorrow from the
gentlemen of Fort- Vancouver. Their unremitting kindness to me while there
much endeared them to me, more so than would seem possible during so short a
time. Dr. McLoughlin, the Governor of the place, is a man distinguished as
much for his kindness and humanity as his good sense and information; and to
whom I am so much indebted as that he will never be forgotten by me." Dr.
McLoughlin assisted the men of Wyeth's expedition who stayed, to join the
Willamette settlement. He furnished them seed and supplies and agreed that
they would be paid the same price for their wheat as was paid to the French
Canadian settlers, i.e., three shillings, sterling, per bushel, and
that they could purchase their supplies from the Hudson's Bay Company at
fifty per cent, advance on prime London cost. This is said to have been
equivalent to paying one dollar and twenty-five cents a bushel for wheat,
with supplies at customary prices.
In 1834 Wyeth again came overland to the Columbia River
with a large party. On the way he established Fort Hall (now in Idaho) in
direct opposition to the Hudson's Bay Company, as he had a perfect right to
do. He and his party arrived at Fort Vancouver September 14, 1834, and were
hospitably received by Dr. McLoughlin and the other gentlemen of the
Hudson's Bay Company. In Wyeth's Journal of his second expedition he says,
under date of September 14, 1834: "Arrived at Vancouver, where I found Dr.
McLoughlin in charge, who received us in his usual manner. He has here
power, and uses it as a man should, to make those about him, and those who
come in contact with him, comfortable and happy." The brig May Dacre, with
Wyeth's supplies, was then in the Columbia River. Immediately on his
arrival, Wyeth started in active competition with the Hudson's Bay Company.
He established a post, which he named Fort William, on Wappatoo Island (now
Sauvie's Island). He forwarded supplies and men to Fort Hall. It was the
beginning of a commercial war between the two companies, but it was a
warfare on honorable lines. In the end Wyeth was beaten by Dr. McLoughlin,
and sold out his entire establishment to the Hudson's Bay Company. While Dr.
McLoughlin was personally courteous to Wyeth and his employees, he did not
and would not be false or untrue to the business interests of the Hudson's
Bay Company. For Dr. McLoughlin to have acted otherwise than he did, would
have shown him to be unfit to hold his position as Chief Factor. Wyeth was
too big, and too capable a man not to understand this. In his Journal, under
date of September 31, 1834, (he evidently forgot that September has but
thirty days) he says: "From this time until the 13th Oct. making
preparations for a campaign into the Snake country and arrived on the 13th
at Vancouver and was received with great attention by all there." And
under date of February 12, 1835, he says: "In the morning made to Vancouver
and found there a polite reception." Wyeth was a man of great ability,
enterprise, and courage. His expeditions deserved better fates. He was a
high-minded gentleman. Although his two expeditions were failures, he showed
his countrymen the way to Oregon, which many shortly followed.
In the McLoughlin Document he
says: "In justice to Mr. Wyeth I have great pleasure to be able to state
that as a rival in trade, I found him open, manly, frank, and fair. And, in
short, in all his contracts, a perfect gentleman and an honest man, doing
all he could to support morality and encouraging industry in the
settlement." It is pleasing to know that after all his hardships and
misfortunes Wyeth established a business for the exportation of ice from
Boston to Calcutta, which was a great financial success.
Rev. H. K. Hines, D.D., was a
Methodist minister who came to Oregon in 1853. He was a brother of Rev.
Gustavus Hines, the Methodist missionary, who came to Oregon in 1840, on the
ship Lausanne. December 10, 1897, at Pendleton, Oregon, Rev. Dr. Hines
delivered one of the finest tributes to Dr. McLoughlin that I know of. He
was fully capable to do it, for he was a profound and scholarly student of
Oregon history, and personally knew Dr. McLoughlin. His address should be
read by everyone. In his address Rev. Dr. Hines said, speaking in regard to
the failure of the enterprises of Wyeth, Bonneville, and other fur traders
in opposition to the Hudson's Bay Company: "My own conclusion, after a
lengthy and laborious investigation, the result I have given here in bare
outlines, is that Dr. McLoughlin acted the part only of an honorable,
high-minded, and loyal man in his relation with the American traders who
ventured to dispute with him the commercial dominion of Oregon up to 1835 or
1837-" When Wyeth left Oregon in 1835, he left on the Columbia River a
number of men. These, too, were assisted by Dr. McLoughlin to join the
Willamette River settlements. They were given the same terms as to prices of
wheat and on supplies as he had given to the French Canadian, and to the
other American settlers. In assisting these men whom Wyeth left on his two
expeditions, Dr. McLoughlin was actuated by two motives. The first was
humanitarian; the second was the desirability, if not necessity, of not
having men, little accustomed to think or to plan for themselves, roaming
the country, and possibly, some of them, becoming vagabonds. It was liable
to be dangerous for white men to join Indian tribes and become leaders. With
great wisdom and humanity he made them settlers, which gave them every
inducement to be industrious and to be law abiding.
John K. Townsend, the naturalist, accompanied by Nuttall,
the botanist, crossed the plains in 1834 with Captain Wyeth. In 1839
Townsend published a book entitled, "Narrative of a Journey across the Rocky
Mountains," etc. On page 169 he says: "On the beach in front of the fort, we
were met by Mr. Lee, the missionary, and Dr. John McLoughlin,
the Chief Factor, and Governor of the Hudson's Bay posts in this vicinity.
The Dr. is a large, dignified and very noble looking m'an, with a fine
expressive countenance, and remarkably bland and pleasing manners. The
Missionary introduced Mr. N. [Nuttall] and myself in due form, and we were
greeted and received with a frank and unassuming politeness which was most
peculiarly grateful to our feelings. He requested us to consider his house
our home, provided a separate room for our use, a servant to wait upon us,
and furnished us with every convenience which we could possibly wish for. I
shall never cease to feel grateful to him for his disinterested kindness to
the poor, houseless, and travel-worn strangers." And on page 263 he said: "I
took leave of Doctor McLoughlin with feelings akin to those with which I
should bid adieu to an affectionate parent; and to his fervent, 'God bless
you, sir, and may you have a happy meeting with your friends,' I could only
reply by a look of the sincerest gratitude. Words are inadequate to express
my deep sense of the obligations which I feel under to this truly generous
and excellent man, and I fear I can only repay them by the sincerity with
which I shall always cherish the recollection of his kindness, and the
ardent prayers I shall breathe for his prosperity and happiness." The only
persons who were not cordially received by Dr. McLoughlin were Ewing Young
and Hall J. Kelley, who came to Fort Vancouver in October, 1834, from
California. Gov. Figueroa, the Governor of California, had written Dr.
McLoughlin that Young and Kelley had stolen horses from settlers in
California. Dr. McLoughlin told them of the charges, and that he would have
nothing to do with them until the information was shown to be false. This
was not done until long afterwards, when it was shown that neither Young nor
Kelley was guilty, but that some of their party, with which they started to
Oregon, were guilty, and were disreputable characters, which Young and
Kelley knew. The stand taken by Dr. McLoughlin was the only proper one. He
had official information from California. Fort Vancouver was not an asylum
for horse thieves. Nevertheless, as Kelley was sick, Dr. McLoughlin provided
Kelley with a house, such as was occupied by the servants of the Company,
outside the fort, furnished him with an attendant, and supplied him with
medical aid and all necessary comforts until March, 1835, when Dr.
McLoughlin gave Kelley free passage to the Hawaiian Islands on the Hudson's
Bay Company's vessel, the Dryad, and also presented Kelley with a draft for
seven pounds sterling, payable at the Hawaiian Islands. On his return home,
Kelley, instead of being grateful, most vigorously attacked the Hudson's Bay
Company for its alleged abuses of American citizens, and abused Dr.
McLoughlin and falsely stated that Dr. McLoughlin had been so alarmed with
the dread that Kelley would destroy the Hudson's Bay Company's trade that
Dr. McLoughlin had kept a constant watch over Kelley.
Kelley was a Boston school teacher who became an Oregon
enthusiast. From the year 1815, when he was twenty-six years of age, for
many years, he wrote and published pamphlets and also a few books on Oregon
and its advantages as a country to live in. He originated a scheme to send a
colony to Oregon; to build a city on the east side of the Willamette River,
at its junction with the Columbia River; and to build another city on the
north side of the Columbia River, nearly opposite Tongue Point. His efforts
resulted in immediate failures. He died a disappointed man. Young was a type
of /man who was often successful in the Far West. He was forceful and
self-reliant, but often reckless, and sometimes careless of appearances. He
was so accustomed to meet emergencies successfully that he did not always
consider what others might think of him and of the methods he sometimes felt
compelled to adopt. He had been robbed in California of a large amount of
furs and had not been fairly treated by the representatives of the Mexican
Government in California. While Young was an adventurer, he was a man of
ability and became a leading resident of early Oregon. The relations of Dr.
McLoughlin and Ewing Young finally became quite amicable, for Dr. McLoughlin
learned of and respected Young's good and manly qualities. |
