There was no one man who saved Oregon
[for the USA]. If any persons saved Oregon, they were these immigrants
from 1843 to and including 1846.
From Dr. McLoughlin: The Father of Oregon by Frederick Holman - 1907
McLoughlin was doubtless aware, no
matter what official information he had received from the Hudson's Bay Company,
that the claims of both countries to the territory of Oregon were based upon
discovery, exploration and settlement. So far as discovery and
exploration were concerned, the facts were already as well defined and established
as they could be. But settlement might strengthen the claim of either;
it was in fact the influx of American settlers into the region that finally
aroused Congress, and made the settlement of the boundary question imperative.
From History of Washington - The Rise and Progress of an American State
by Clinton Snowden - 1909
|
