Page:Quarterlyoforego10oreg 1.djvu/423

Rh of the Oregon Country by the United States and Great Britain. It was built after his resignation, and after he had ceased to be the head of the Hudson's Bay Company on the Pacific Coast, which was the direct result of his philanthropy and humanity to the early pioneers. He built this house to be his permanent abiding place in the Oregon Country. In selecting Oregon City for his permanent home, he anticipated that it would be a part of the United States when the boundary treaty should be made and the dispute as to the ownership of Oregon should be determined between the United States and Great Britain. He had determined to change his allegiance and become an American citizen as soon as he could do so. This he carried out. Although born and brought up a British subject. Dr. McLoughlin's feelings and principles were for rule by the people under a republican form of government. Through his whole life he was ever the friend of the distressed and the champion of the oppressed. He made this house his home in pleasant anticipation of a happy and prosperous old age — to be with his wife and his children, and his children's children; to be one of those to make Oregon into a prosperous community, guided by his experience and his helping hand ; to continue that aid by precept and example, by being of them as well as with them. These ideas he carried out to the best of his ability. I shall not dwell on what he did in assisting in the upbuilding of Oregon, and his aids and assistance to the early pioneers. It is a part of the folklore of Oregon.

It was here that the newly-come immigrants, discouraged by their long and arduous trips across the plains, were made hopeful by his kindly words and encouraged by his timely aid and assistance. It was here to the last that hospitality reigned supreme. His darkest days were never too dark to give a welcome to his friends and to the strangers within his gates. It was a place of culture, of refinement, the one attractive place in Oregon, where the log cabin was the rule, and the struggle for existence and to gain a foothold was the lot of most of the early pioneers.