DR. JOHN McLOUGHLIN
The story of the life of Dr. John McLoughlin comprises
largely the history of Oregon beginning in the time of joint-occupancy of
the Oregon Country, and continuing until after the boundary treaty dividing
the Oregon Country between the United States and Great Britain, the
establishment of the Oregon Territorial Government, and the passage of the
Oregon Donation Law. It relates directly to events in Oregon from 1824 until
the death of Dr. McLoughlin in 1857, and incidentally to what occurred in
Oregon as far back as the founding of Astoria in 1811.
Prior to the Treaty of 1846 between the United States and
England fixing the present northern boundary line of the United States west
of the Rocky Mountains, what was known as the "Oregon Country" was bounded
on the south by north latitude forty-two degrees, the present northern
boundary of the states of California and Nevada; on the north by latitude
fifty-four degrees and forty minutes, the present southern boundary of
Alaska; on the east by the Rocky Mountains; and on the west by the Pacific
Ocean. It included all of the states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, and
parts of the states of Montana and Wyoming, and all of the
present Dominion of Canada between latitudes forty-nine degrees and
fifty-four degrees forty minutes, and west of the Rocky Mountains. Its area
was approximately four hundred thousand square miles, an area about
twenty-five per cent, greater than that of the original thirteen colonies at
the time of the American Revolution.
