Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 9.djvu/325

Rh became the great center of travel and the point of distribution for the North Pacific.

For a score of years it continued to be the great missionary to dedicate new regions to settlement and to transform the wilderness. It reached out year after year, making new paths and bringing new and remote sections within the sphere of civilization. While legitimately pursuing its business of making money, claiming no credit whatever for philanthropy, it widely contributed to the comforts of self-denying pioneers and to them it early assured those advantages which are only attained by comfortable means of communication with the rest of the world.

All the steamboat men of the Northwest were in some way connected with the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, but more credit is due to Captain J. C. Ainsworth than to any of the others for the efficient, business-like yet generous methods of the company. Mr. Ainsworth and Mr. Thompson worked together as one man almost from the beginning of the company, planning, advising and acting; and to them alone was known the real inside history of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company. But it sometimes happened that Mr. Thompson could not be present during the consideration of an important problem, then Mr. Ainsworth had to take things into his own hands, and in such difficult situations he proved himself to be the very spirit of the company. He dealt with the scheming, under-handed element with all the justice and broadmindedness of the leader that he was. He never acted with selfish motives. He looked out for the interests of the company of which he was president with such diligence and zeal that we can safely say that it was chiefly due to his wonderful foresight and perseverance that the company was such a great success. He was indeed a leader in the early development of this new Northwest and no history of this country is complete without a special mention of him. His life is a good example of a successful business career, and the marvelous success of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company is part of that life. Oregon may well be proud of her "First Monopoly," and all