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OREGON. the Spaniards in 1789, but Spain was forced to agree to give up exclusive claim to the region. (See .) The French navigator Lapérouse in 1786 sailed along the coast from 58° 37′ southward. The American claim began with the visit of J. Kendrick and Robert Gray, sent out by Boston merchants to seek for furs. The winter of 1788-89 was spent at Nootka. In 1791 Captain Gray returned, and on May 11, 1792, entered the mouth of the river Saint Roque, which he renamed the Columbia, from his ship. Another English expedition under Vancouver examined the coast in 1793. Fur traders entered the country in 1793, and in 1811 the Pacific Fur Company founded Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia. (See .) This was captured by the British, December 12, 1813, and renamed Fort George. It was restored to the United States in 1818, but abandoned by the owners. In 1824-25 Fort Vancouver was founded by John McLaughlin, chief factor of the United Hudson's Bay and Northwest Fur Companies, and he was practically Governor for many years.

The American claim rested upon the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 (the Spanish claim), and the discoveries of Captain Gray in 1792. From these grew the claim to all country drained by the Columbia. In 1805-06 Lewis and Clark explored much of the country. The northwestern boundary between the United States and Canada was fixed by the Convention of 1818 as the line of 49° from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains. West of this point the territory was to be open to both parties, the United States and Canada, for ten years without prejudice to claims of either. (See .) By the Convention of 1827, ratified in 1828, joint occupation was continued indefinitely, but might be terminated by either party on twelve months' notice. The British were willing to concede 49° to the Columbia River, thence down it to the mouth, thus taking in a greater part of the present State of Washington, while the American claim, as before stated, was for all of the basin of the Columbia River, practically 42°-52°. The Oregon question occupied much of the attention of Congress after 1820, and the sentiment for demanding ‘all of Oregon’ grew. By the negotiations with Russia (1824-25) that country agreed to make no settlements south of 54° 40′, and the idea gained ground that this was the proper northern boundary. Immigration to the territory had begun in 1832; the Methodists founded a mission under Jason Lee in 1834, and the Presbyterians under Marcus Whitman in 1836. Every year after 1838 numbers of immigrants crossed the Rockies, and by 1845 the American population numbered nearly 3000. The settlement of the northeastern boundary had been unsatisfactory, and in 1844 a popular rallying cry of the Democrats was “Fifty-four forty, or fight.” Several Senators favored war, but others held that the best method of gaining possession was by actual settlement, in which the Americans were far surpassing the British, who were hardly represented except by the trappers of the Hudson's Bay Company. It was finally agreed in 1846 that the boundary should be 49° to the channel between Vancouver and the mainland, thence down the middle of this channel, through the Straits of San Juan de Fuca to the sea. The story that (q.v.) in 1843 prevented the exchange of the

northern part of the territory for fishing stations in Newfoundland is unfounded.

The American inhabitants in 1843 met and organized a Territorial government under an executive council. A Governor was chosen in 1845 and served until the organization of the region as a Territory of the United States. Oregon Territory, including the present Washington and much of Idaho, was organized on August 14, 1848, though the Governor did not arrive until the next year. The increase of population caused the inhabitants to hold a convention at Salem, August-September, 1857, which formed a State constitution and asked for admission. This instrument prohibited slavery, but forbade any free negro or mulatto “to come, reside, or be in the State, or hold real estate, or make any contract, or maintain any suit.” The State was admitted February 14, 1859, with the present boundaries. Indian troubles were frequent from early times. In 1847 Whitman and twelve companions were massacred. There was constant trouble during the Civil War, and the Shoshone War (1866-68) and the Modoc War (1864-73) were serious. (See article .) All Indians are now confined within narrow reservations, or have been removed to Indian Territory. The Constitution has been seldom amended. The ‘anti-negro’ clause still stands, though, of course, inoperative. The State has been successful in securing large appropriations for improvement of rivers and harbors from the National Government. The Cascade Locks on the Columbia were the largest in the world when completed in 1896. The State has given its electoral vote for the Republican ticket except in 1868, and one vote in 1892, though usually by small majorities. In 1876 it was found that one of the Republican electors held a Federal office, and was consequently ineligible. The Democratic Governor issued a certificate to the leading minority candidate, but the two Republican electors filled the vacancy, and their position was sustained by the (q.v.). In 1892 the Democrats indorsed one Populist elector, and the vote that year was: Republican, 3; Populist, 1. Political squabbles have been frequent, and in 1897 the Lower House of the Legislature refused to organize on account of a contest for United States Senator.

. Bulfinch, Oregon and Eldorado (Boston, 1866); Moseley, Oregon: Resources, Climate, Products (London, 1878); Nash, Two