Everything about Oregon Country totally explained
Oregon Country or
Oregon (to be distinguished from the
American State also called
Oregon) was a predominantly
American term referring to a region of the
Pacific Northwest of
North America. The region was occupied by
British and
French Canadian fur traders from the
1810s, and American settlers from the mid-
1830s until the
Oregon Treaty of 1846 established a clear boundary between present-day
Washington and
British Columbia.
The Oregon Country, as termed by Americans intent upon its annexation, consisted of the land north of 42°N latitude, south of 54°40′N latitude, and west of the
Rocky Mountains to the
Pacific Ocean. The area now forms part of the present day
Canadian province of
British Columbia, all of the
US states of
Oregon,
Washington, and
Idaho, and parts of
Montana and
Wyoming. The British presence in the region was generally administered by the
Hudson's Bay Company, whose
Columbia Department comprised most of the Oregon Country and extended considerably north beyond 54°40′N, with operations reaching to tributaries of the
Yukon River.
Early exploration
Alexander Mackenzie was the first European to cross North America by land north of
Mexico, arriving at
Bella Coola on the Pacific coast in
1793.
Meriwether Lewis and
William Clark scouted the territory for the United States on the
Lewis and Clark Expedition, from
1804 to
1806.
David Thompson, working for British fur companies, explored much of Oregon Country. In 1811 he traveled down the entire
Columbia River, the first European to do so.
Name origin
The origin of the word
Oregon isn't known for certain. One theory is that French explorers called the Columbia River "the river of storms,"
ouragan. Other possibilities have been suggested based on words from French and Spanish (since the region was explored by their nationals), but an official origin of the name isn't known.
George R. Stewart argued in a 1944 article in
American Speech that the name came from an engraver's error in a French map published in the early 1700s, on which the
Ouisiconsink (
Wisconsin River) was spelled "Ouaricon-sint", broken on two lines with the -sint below, so that there appeared to be a river flowing to the west named "Ouaricon". This theory was endorsed in
Oregon Geographic Names as "the most plausible explanation".
Territorial evolution
The Oregon Country was originally claimed by the
Great Britain,
France,
Russia, and
Spain; the Spanish claim was later taken up by the
United States. The U.S. based its claim on
Robert Gray's discovery of the Columbia River in 1792 and on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Great Britain based its claim on British overland explorations of the Columbia River and on prior discovery and exploration along the Coast. Spain's claim was based on the fact that they'd explored the Pacific coast in the late 1700s. Russia based its claim off the settlements it had stretching from Alaska into Oregon. In the 18th century, France and Spain had divided their territorial claims in western North America along the
42nd parallel, with Spain claiming the land south of that line and France claiming the land north of it. France's loss at the end of the
Seven Years' War effectively ended its claim to the area. Spain gave up its claims piecemeal, via the
Nootka Conventions in the early
1790s that followed the
Nootka Crisis and, later, relinquishing any remaining claims to territory north of the 42nd parallel to the United States as part of the
Adams-Onís Treaty of
1819. Russia gave up its claims in separate treaties with the United States in
1824 and with Britain in
1825.
Meanwhile, the United States and Britain negotiated the
Anglo-American Convention of 1818 that extended the boundary between their territories west along the
49th parallel to the Rocky Mountains. The two countries agreed to "joint occupancy" of the land west of the Rockies to the Pacific Ocean.
In the early 1840s, some Oregonians claimed to have established a provisional
republic, with a 3-person
executive branch and a chief executive. A certain faction of Oregonian politicians hoped to continue Oregon's political evolution into an independent nation, but pressure to join the
United States would prevail by 1848.
Early settlement
After the Lewis and Clark Expedition, "
Mountain Men" such as
Jedediah Smith and
Jim Beckwourth came roaming into and across the Rocky Mountains, following Indian trails through the Rockies to California and Oregon. They were looking for
beaver pelts and other furs, which were easily had by
trapping. The Mountain Men adopted
Indian ways and many of them married Indian women. Fur-trading companies followed, setting up posts where Mountain Men and Indians could exchange their pelts for tools, supplies, and liquor.
The British-owned
North West Company and
Hudson's Bay Company penetrated the Oregon Country from the north, via
Athabasca Pass, arriving in
1808. In
1810,
John Jacob Astor founded the
Pacific Fur Company, which established a fur-trading post at
Astoria, Oregon in
1811. This initiated an era of competition between American and British fur traders. The Pacific Fur operation broke down during the
War of 1812 and was sold to the North West Company. Under British control, Astoria was renamed Fort George. In 1821 the North West Company was merged with the Hudson's Bay Company, which took over operations in the Pacific Northwest.
John McLoughlin was appointed head or Chief Factor of the region in
1824. He moved its regional headquarters to
Fort Vancouver, which became the de facto political center of the Pacific Northwest. Astor continued to compete for Oregon Country furs from his posts in the eastern Rockies.
In the
1820s, more American explorers and traders visited this land beyond the Rocky Mountains.
Reports of the Oregon Country circulated in the eastern United States. Some churches decided to send missionaries to convert the Indians.
Jason Lee, a
Methodist minister from
New York, was the first
Oregon missionary. He built a mission school for Indians in the
Willamette Valley in
1834. Others followed within a few years
Actual settlers began to arrive from the east starting around 1840, with several large groups arriving over the
Oregon Trail.
The Oregon Treaty
In
1843, settlers in the
Willamette Valley established a provisional
government at
Champoeg, which was personally (but not officially) recognized by John McLoughlin of the Hudson's Bay Company in
1845.
Political pressure in the United States urged the occupation of all the Oregon Country. Expansionists in the American South wanted to annex Texas, while their counterparts in the Northeast wanted to annex the Oregon Country whole. It was seen as significant that the expansions be parallel, as the relative proximity to other states and territories made it appear likely that Texas would be pro-slavery and Oregon against slavery.
In the
1844 U.S. Presidential election, the Democrats called for expansion into both areas. After being elected, however, President
James K. Polk supported the
49th parallel as a northern limit for U.S. annexation in Oregon Country. It was Polk's uncompromising support for the expansion into Texas and relative silence on the
Oregon boundary dispute that led to the phrase "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight!", referring to the northern border of the region and often erroneously attributed to Polk's campaign. The goal of the slogan was to rally Southern expansionists (some of whom wanted to annex only Texas in an effort to tip the balance of slave/free states and territories in favor of slavery) to support the effort to annex Oregon Country, appealing to the popular belief in
Manifest Destiny. The British government, meanwhile, sought control of all territory north of the Columbia River.
The two countries eventually came to a peaceful agreement in the 1846 Oregon Treaty that divided the territory along the 49th parallel to
Georgia Strait, with all of
Vancouver Island remaining under British control. This border still divides British Columbia from neighboring Washington, Idaho, and Montana.
In
1848, the U.S. portion of the Oregon Country was formally organized as the
Oregon Territory. In
1849, Vancouver Island became a British
Crown colony, with the mainland being organized into the colony of British Columbia in
1858.
Descriptions of the land
Alexander Ross, an early Scottish fur trader, describes the lower Columbia River area of the Oregon Country (known to him as the
Columbia District):
» The banks of the river throughout are low and skirted in the distance by a chain of moderately high lands on each side, interspersed here and there with clumps of widespreading oaks, groves of pine, and a variety of other kinds of woods. Between these high lands lie what is called the valley of the Wallamitte [sic], the frequented haunts of innumerable herds of elk and deer.... . In ascending the river the surrounding country is most delightful, and the first barrier to be meet with is about forty miles up from its mouth. Here the navigation is interrupted by a ledge of rocks, running across the river from side to side in the form of an irregular horseshoe, over which the whole body of water falls at one leap down a precipice of about forty feet, called
the Falls."
Further Information
Get more info on 'Oregon Country'.
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