Oregon pioneer history
Oregon pioneer history (1806–1890) is the period in the history of Oregon Country and Oregon Territory, in the present day state of Oregon and Northwestern United States.
It was the era when
Territory
At the beginning of the pioneer period the Oregon Country was the homeland of numerous tribes of
The portion that became part of the United States in 1846 remained unorganized until Congress created the Oregon Territory in August 1848.[1] In 1853, the northern boundary of the current state of Oregon was defined, with roughly half of the original Oregon Territory becoming the Washington Territory.[1] The boundaries were finalized for Oregon upon entering the Union as the 33rd state on February 14, 1859. The remaining northeastern portion of the territory became part of the Washington Territory.[2] In 1863, Idaho Territory was created from the eastern section of the Washington Territory, with other former eastern portions of the Oregon Territory becoming parts of Montana Territory and Wyoming Territory.[1] Washington became a state in 1889, followed by Idaho in 1890.[1]
Government
Various Native American tribes inhabited the region at the beginning of the pioneer settlement period. Each tribe had their own forms of government, but no modern nation existed. The first formal government in the region came in the form of the Hudson's Bay Company, who were granted the authority by their charter to in effect rule over the region's British subjects. Thus the HBC was the de facto government for much of the region until U.S. settlers eventually outnumbered the British in the region.[3]
Beginning in 1841 with the death of Ewing Young, settlers in the Willamette Valley held a series of meetings at Champoeg, Oregon.[2] Eventually, in 1843 the majority of participants voted to create a government to rule over the pioneers until the boundary question would be settled. This temporary government had a supreme judge, a legislature, and at first an executive committee followed later by a governor.[2] This government remained in control of portions of the region until 1849 when the United States' territorial government arrived.
Beginning in 1849, the
Economy
Fur trade
The
In 1813, during the
In 1822, McLoughlin had a new post built near where the confluence of the Willamette River and the Columbia.[4] On the north shore of the Columbia a new headquarters, Fort Vancouver, became the centerpiece of a multi-post system where furs and supplies were funneled in and out of Fort Vancouver.[4] Brigades of fur trappers would spend months in the wilderness trapping animals, then return with the pelts to fur posts such as Fort George, Fort Umpqua, Fort Walla Walla, Fort Nisqually, Fort Okanogan, and Fort Boise.[4] Later the HBC would start the Puget Sound Agricultural Company to supply food staples to the venture.[4] By the 1830s the Hudson's Bay Company was worried about American expansion into the region and, in an attempt to forestall it, made a policy that fur trapping brigades operating south of the Columbia River, especially in the drainages of the Snake River and Willamette River, would work to create so-called "fur deserts", where beaver stocks were rapidly and deliberately depleted. This policy, although successful in making beaver rare in the Willamette Valley, did not prevent American settlement.
The next player in the fur trade was American Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth who had made a fortune in the ice business in New England.[4] In 1832 he led a new expedition to establish a fur trading empire through his new Pacific Trading Company.[4] After returning from Oregon Country, Wyeth set out again in 1834 to set up the trading posts.[4] His expedition established Fort Hall (on the Snake River) and Fort William (on Wapatoo Island), but the venture was a failure due to the dominance of the HBC in the region and the American Fur Company's control of the trade in the Rocky Mountains.[4] In 1836 Wyeth sold his two posts to the HBC.[4]
Beginning in the early 1840s the fur trade began to decline as fashion tastes shifted away from beaver pelt hats and the numbers of beavers declined due to
Transportation
Early travel to the region was mainly by ship, with overland transportation developing later. By the 1830s a steady stream of travelers entered Oregon from the south through California and from the east over the
As more settlers arrived in the area, further transportation infrastructure was developed. Roads such as the
In 1873, at Willamette Falls a lock and canal were completed to allow vessels to pass the waterfall and continue upriver on the Willamette River.[2] Construction on a lock to bypass a set of cascades on the Columbia River began in 1878, but were not completed until 1896.[3] Other canals were also built, including the Tualatin Canal at Oswego Lake. In 1887, the Morrison Bridge was completed as the first bridge over the Willamette River in Portland.
Other activities
In January 1837, thirteen pioneer settlers formed the
Young led a small group to California, sailing from the Willamette River to San Francisco Bay. There the group procured about 630 head of cattle, which they drove north to the Willamette Valley. In Oregon, the cattle were divided between the investors, making Young one of the richest settlers in Oregon and helping to break the dependence of the settlers on the cattle of the HBC.
Although the Willamette Cattle Company brought some cattle to Oregon Country, the demand exceeded the supply. Beginning in 1840, another group of pioneers began building a ship to sail south to California where they would trade the ship for more livestock. This operation ended in 1843 when the group returned to the Willamette Valley settlements with a variety of livestock. They left California with 1,250 head of cattle, 600 horses and mules, and 3,000 sheep.
See also
- History of the Northwestern United States
- History of the Pacific Northwest
- American Old West
References
- ^ a b c d e f Historical Timeline of Events Leading to the formation of Washington State. Archived 2012-02-07 at the Wayback Machine Washington State University, accessed October 3, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e Corning, Howard M. Dictionary of Oregon History. Binfords & Mort Publishing, 1956.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Horner, John B. (1919). Oregon: Her History, Her Great Men, Her Literature. The J.K. Gill Co.: Portland. p. 83
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oregon Blue Book: Oregon History: Land-based Fur Trade and Exploration
- ISBN 0-295-97485-0.
- ^ Emmerich, Alexander. John Jacob Astor. Der erfolgreichste deutsche Auswanderer. Konrad Theiss Verlag: Stuttgart 2009, S. 143ff.
- ^ a b Oregon Blue Book: Oregon History: Souls to Save
- ^ Oregon Blue Book: Oregon History: Overland to Oregon
- Lamb, W. Kaye. (1985). "McLoughlin, John". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. VIII (1851–1860) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
- ^ a b NPS: Fort Vancouver: Introduction to the Village