Hudson Bay High School - Aquila Yearbook (Vancouver, WA)

Page 11 text:

 tr

Page 10 text:



Page 12 text:

'John Me Coughlin Dr. John McLoughlin ruled between 1824 and 1846 from Fort Vancouver as Chief Factor of the Columbia Department of the Hudson's Bay Company. His towering height, piercing eye, and shaggy hair earned him the name “Whiteheaded Eagle.” During his factorship the department expanded to cover most of what are now the west coast states, and the power of the company in the Oregon country became almost absolute. In addition to his impressive appearance and ener- getic leadership, McLoughlin had a kind heart. It was company policy to discourage American settlers because of the threat they posed to company power and British ownership of the region. But when the bedraggled vagabonds came floating down the Columbia with the wreckage of the long overland haul, human kindness overcame loyalty to the company, and McLoughlin gavo them the food and supplies they needed to get started in their new world. Because of this assistance he has gone down in American history as the “Father of Oregon.” After the boundary treaty of 1846, when Fort Van- couver and the rest of the present states of Washington and Oregon became American territory, McLoughlin resigned from his position in the Hudson's Bay Company and became an American citizen. Still standing in Oregon City, his house has become a National Historical Site. Dr. John McLoughlin will long be remembered as one of the most colorful and most important figures in the history of Vancouver and of the entire northwestern United States. Hudson's Bay High School has commem- orated him by making McLoughlin dress plaid and white its official colors.