Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/312

 304 FREDERICK V. UOLMAN. Doctor McLoughlin Was born October 19, 1784, in Parish La Riviere du Loup, Canada, about one hundred and twenty miles below Quebec, on the south side of the St. Lawrence River. His parents were of a high class. His father was an Irishman, and his mother was the daughter of a Scotchman, a retired officer of the British regular army. His father died while Dr. McLoughlin was a boy. He was brought up in the family of his maternal grandfather. He was educated in Canada and in Scotland, and, probably, partly in France. He became a physician, although he did not long practice his profession. But it gave him a title which became, and will continue forever, a part of his name. In the early pioneer days of Oregon, and until his death, and afterwards he was respectfully and affectionately called "The Good Doctor," and "The Good Old Doctor" by the Oregon pioneers. Doctor McLoughlin was born a man of affairs arid a leader of men. When a very young man, as a physician, he joined the Northwest Company, the great rival of the Hudson's Bay Company. He did not long continue his position as a physi- cian. There were then stirring times in the wilds of Canada. There was strong competition between these two companies. The Northwest Company was composed of strong, forceful men, and a man like Dr. McLoughlin was needed in its affairs. Hie could not continue to look after the ailing when such men needed him as a leader in large affairs. The rivalry between these two great fur companies resulted in actual armed con- flict between them. To be a leader in the Northwest Company required a man of great ability and courage, and of equally great discretion and judgment. In 1821, when these com- panies coalesced, Dr. McLoughlin was in charge of Fort Wil- liam, on the north shore of Lake Superior, the chief depot and factory of the Northw r est Company. THE AUTOCRAT OF THE OREGON COUNTRY. For many years the fur trade of these companies in the Oregon Country had been managed and conducted in a very unsatisfactory manner. In 1824 Dr. McLoughlin was sent to