Dr. John McLoughlin, the Father of Oregon

by Frederick V. Holman

"The Rev. Jason Lee,
"Dear Sir:

"I do myself the pleasure to hand you the enclosed subscription, which the gentlemen who have signed it request you will do them the favor to accept for the use of the Mission; and they pray our Heavenly Father, without whose assistance we can do nothing, that of his infinite mercy he will vouchsafe to bless and prosper your pious endeavors, and believe me to be, with esteem and regard, your sincere well-wisher and humble servant.

"John McLoughlin."[12]

From its beginning, and for several years after, the successful maintenance of the Methodist Mission in Oregon was due to the friendly attitude and assistance of Dr. McLoughlin and of the other officers of the Hudson's Bay Company in Oregon. Without these the Mission must have ceased to exist. This applies also to the successful maintenance of all other missions in the Oregon Country in the same period of time.[13]

In May, 1837, an addition to the Methodist Mission arrived at Vancouver. It consisted of eight adults and three children. Of these three were men, one of whom was Dr. Elijah White, the Mission physician; five were women, one of whom was Anna Maria Pittman, whom Jason Lee soon married. In September, 1837, the ship Sumatra arrived at Fort Vancouver loaded with goods for the Methodist Mission. The Sumatra also brought four more missionaries, two men, two women, and three children. Rev. David Leslie and wife were two of these missionaries. All these missionaries were entertained by Dr. McLoughlin, and provided with comfortable quarters at Fort Vancouver.

In March, 1838, Rev. Jason Lee left for the Eastern States, overland, on business for the Mission. His wife died June 26, 1838, three weeks after the birth and death of their son. Immediately on her death Dr. McLoughlin sent an express to overtake and tell Jason Lee of these sad events. The express reached Jason Lee about September 1, 1838, at Pawnee Mission, near Westport, Missouri.[14] From this act alone could anyone doubt that Dr. McLoughlin was a sympathetic, kind, thoughtful, and considerate man? Or think that Jason Lee would ever forget? Later, in 1838 Dr. McLoughlin made a trip to London, returning to Fort Vancouver in 1839.

While Jason Lee was on this trip to the Eastern States, the Missionary Board was induced to raise $42,000 to provide for sending thirty-six adults, and sixteen children, and a cargo of goods and supplies, on the ship Lausanne, to Oregon for the Methodist Mission. Among these new missionaries were Rev. Alvan F. Waller, Rev. Gustavus Hines, and George Abernethy, a lay member, who was to be steward of the Mission and to have charge of all its secular affairs. This party of missionaries, who came on the Lausanne, are often referred to as "The great re-inforcement." The Lausanne, with its precious and valuable cargoes, arrived at Fort Vancouver June 1, 1840. As soon as Dr. McLoughlin knew of her arrival in the Columbia River, he sent fresh bread, butter, milk, and vegetables for the passengers and crew. At Fort Vancouver he supplied rooms and provisions for the whole missionary party, about fifty-three people. This party remained as his guests, accepting his hospitality, for about two weeks.[15] Shortly after some of this missionary party were endeavoring to take for themselves Dr. McLoughlin's land claim at Oregon City. The Lausanne was the last missionary vessel to come to Oregon.

Why this large addition to the Oregon Mission, and these quantities of supplies, were sent, and this great expense incurred, has never been satisfactorily explained. It seems to have been the result of unusual, but ill-directed, religious fervor and zeal. The Methodist Oregon Mission was then, so far as converting the Indians, a failure. It was not the fault of the early missionaries. Until 1840 they labored hard and zealously. The Indians would not be converted, or, if converted, stay converted. Their numbers had been greatly reduced by the epidemics of 1829-32, and the numbers were still being rapidly reduced. And why the necessity of such secular business as a part of a mission to convert Indians to Christianity?[16] The failure to convert the Indians was because they were Indians. Their language was simple and related almost wholly to material things. They had no ethical, no spiritual words. They had no need for such. They had no religion of their own, worthy of the name, to be substituted for a better or a higher one. They had no religious instincts, no religious tendencies, no religious traditions. The male Indians would not perform manual labor—that was for women and slaves. The religion of Christ and the religion of Work go hand in hand.

Rev. Dr. H. K. Hines, in his Missionary History, after setting forth certain traits of the Indians and the failures of the Methodist missionaries to convert them, says (p. 402): "So on the Northwest Coast. The course and growth of a history whose beginnings cannot be discovered had ended only in the production of the degraded tribes among whom the most consecrated and ablest missionary apostleship the Church of Christ had sent out for centuries made almost superhuman efforts to plant the seed of the 'eternal life.' As a people they gave no fruitful response." And, on page 476, he says: "Indeed, after Dr. Whitman rehabilitated his mission in the autumn of 1843, the work of that station lost much of its character as an Indian mission. It became rather a resting place and trading post, where the successive immigrations of 1844-'45-'46 and '47 halted for a little recuperation after their long and weary journey, before they passed forward to the Willamette. This was inevitable." And on page 478 Dr. Hines says that Dr. McLoughlin "advised Dr. Whitman to remove from among the Cayuses, as he believed not only that he could no longer be useful to them, but that his life was in danger if he remained among them."

J. Quinn Thornton in his "History of the Provisional Government of Oregon,"[17] says: "In the autumn of 1840 there were in Oregon thirty-six American male settlers, twenty-five of whom had taken native women for their wives. There were also thirty-three American women, thirty-two children, thirteen lay members of the Protestant Missions, thirteen Methodist ministers, six Congregational ministers, three Jesuit priests, and sixty Canadian-French, making an aggregate of one hundred and thirty-six Americans, and sixty-three Canadian-French [including the priests in the latter class] having no connection as employées of the Hudson's Bay Company. [This estimate includes the missionaries who arrived on the Lausanne.] I have said that the population outside of the Hudson's Bay Company increased slowly. How much so, will be seen by the fact that up to the beginning of the year 1842, there were in Oregon no more than twenty-one Protestant ministers, three Jesuit priests, fifteen lay members of Protestant churches, thirty-four white women, thirty-two white children, thirty-four American settlers, twenty-five of whom had native wives. The total American population will thus be seen to have been no more than one hundred and thirty-nine." (This was prior to the arrival of the immigration of 1842.)