Dr. John McLoughlin & The First Capital: How Oregon City Governed the Pacific Northwest

1. The White Eagle of Fort Vancouver

As Chief Factor of the British Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver from 1824 to 1845, Dr. John McLoughlin held absolute commercial and diplomatic authority over the Columbia District. Tall, commanding, with flowing white hair that earned him the indigenous title "White Eagle," McLoughlin recognized early on that Willamette Falls was destined to become the commercial heart of Oregon.

When destitute American pioneer wagon trains began arriving at Abernethy Green in the 1840s, McLoughlin defied strict corporate orders from London to turn them away. Instead, he advanced thousands of dollars in credit for seed wheat, timber saws, flour, and clothing from the company stores, saving hundreds of American settlers from starvation.

2. Capital of the Wilderness: Platting Oregon City

In 1842, McLoughlin surveyed and platted Oregon City on his personal land claim along the eastern banks of the falls. In 1844, it became the first incorporated municipality west of the Rockies. In 1846, the city published the Oregon Spectator—the first American newspaper printed on the Pacific Coast.

When the U.S. Congress formally created the Oregon Territory in August 1848, Governor Joseph Lane established Oregon City as the inaugural territorial capital. Government offices, judicial courts, and commercial banks operated along Main Street while steam-powered sawmills whirred along the basalt gorge.

3. Political Exile, Relocation & Legacy

Despite his humanitarian generosity, McLoughlin was targeted by political rivals who resented his British Catholic background. Under a controversial clause in the 1850 Donation Land Claim Act crafted by political adversaries, his Oregon City land claims were stripped away. Forced to resign from the HBC, he became an American citizen and lived out his final years quietly in his home near the riverbank until his death in 1857.

In 1909, when expanding paper mills threatened to demolish his historic home, citizen volunteers moved the two-story colonial structure up the steep Singer Hill bluff to Center Street. Today, the McLoughlin House is preserved as a National Historic Site, and McLoughlin is officially honored by the Oregon Legislature as the "Father of Oregon."