County Spotlight: Multnomah County Continued
Election Day is over, but of course the
votes are still being counted and many races in Oregon are too close to call. Mixed
feelings at some of the outcomes - Am hopeful you will join me in a renewed
commitment to pray for our state, to be diligent to hear from the Lord on how
to pray and to remember it is God who …changes the times
and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings;….Daniel 2:21
First house in Portland. Naito Pkway and Washington St.
Multnomah County – the most populous in the state,
with the smallest geographical area. Portland, the county seat, was started in
1843 when Asa Lovejoy and William Overton filed a land claim at the place along
the west bank of the Willamette River that was known by trappers and natives as
“The Clearing.” Mr. Overton built a cabin at this site before selling his
portion of the claim to someone else and leaving for greener pastures.
This site is in what is now Multnomah County, not far
from the waterfront, at the intersection of Naito Parkway and Washington
Street, just across the Morrison Bridge. At the time, however, Multnomah County
was still part of Clackamas County which leads us back to a story we started
and need to finish: Dr. John McLoughlin.
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| Multnomah County, OR |
The Oregon County went through a major time of
transition from the late 1830’s to the mid- 1850's. Dr. McLoughlin was caught
in the thick of it.
When the Hudson’s Bay Company engaged Dr. McLoughlin
as Factor in 1825, he was at first stationed at Astoria. He immediately recognized
that a better location for fur trading was further up the Columbia, so he moved
headquarters upstream and set up Fort Vancouver, across the river from later Multnomah County. Here he established the fort
itself, as well as a forty-house community for laborers, and 3,000 acres of
fields, gardens and orchards that fed the fur-trapping community, and later,
the first wagon trains.
He also perceived that the area was rich farmland with
a gentle climate and proximity to the ocean and would therefore become a
population center. He laid claim to a parcel of land for himself in 1829 that included
the Willamette Falls and the island in the river as well as much of what become
Oregon City.
Among the first Americans Dr. McLoughlin helped upon
their arrival in Oregon were missionaries. Jason and Daniel Lee were first,
around 1838, and Dr. McLoughlin encouraged them and helped them establish the
Methodist Mission just north of where Salem is now. Jason Lee asked the
Missionary Board for more helpers and in 1940 the ship Lausanne docked at Fort
Vancouver with 51 men, woman, and children as additional help. Two on board
were A.F. Waller, a minister, and George Abernethy, a layman hired to handle
the business affairs of the Mission. In Oregon history, these are respected
pioneers. A.F. Waller is known for his efforts to establish Willamette
University, and for his long career as a Methodist minister near Salem. Abernethy
was the first governor under the Provisional Government.
Rev. Waller, sent to establish another mission near
Willamette Falls in 1840, claimed 640 acres just north of Dr. McLoughlin’s. The
Dr. assisted Rev. Waller in his efforts to build a mission. Meanwhile, about
the same time, in 1842 the first wagon trains began to arrive. By 1844 Dr.
McLoughlin had saved the lives of several thousand immigrants from starvation,
illness and Native Americans who were alarmed by this invasion of American
farmers. This was against the wishes of the Hudson’s Bay Company leaders, and
he was forced to resign in 1844 and went to live on his claim in Oregon City.
It was then that Rev. Waller, with the help of a
lawyer, claimed Dr. McLoughlin’s land as his own. The details of this land dispute
are complicated and too much to go into in a blog post, but before it was over,
with the help of George Abernethy (and others) the matter was brought before
Congress along with a great deal of misinformation, and Dr. McLoughlin was
deprived of his claim as part of the Donation Land Act of 1850. Dr. McLoughlin,
having been forced to resign his position for helping the Americans, and taken
steps to become a US citizen, was horribly betrayed. He was allowed to continue
to live on his land, but it was legally owned by others. He died in 1857, broken and bitter, with the
land issue unresolved. In 1862 the Oregon legislature corrected the matter and
returned the land to his heirs.
In the study of early Oregon history, after the
settlers began to arrive, land speculation and claim jumping is a major theme.
One book that shed light on some of the practices of early merchants and
businessmen in Multnomah and Clackamas Counties is Merchants, Money and
Power by E. Kimbark MacColl. Business practices in early Oregon could be
pretty cut-throat. But the betrayal of the one who was responsible for Oregon
becoming part of the US, and for the very survival of the early settlers by the
very men he helped, men who were representatives of Christianity, is on another
level.
I am glad the Oregon legislature had the wisdom to restore
the claim to the McLoughlin family. And there have been numerous attempts to
recognize and honor Dr. McLoughlin over the years.
How do we pray for Multnomah County?
If MY
people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and
seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven,
and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. II Chronicles 7:14
While the legislature restored the land, and the
Mission itself was not involved, we still might consider repentance for the
treatment of Dr. McLoughlin by professing Christians. II Chronicles 7:14
specifies ‘MY’ people need to repent. (For the sins of our fathers)
Pray for the new Multnomah County Commissioners. It
looks like, at this point, Vega Pederson and Rene Gonzalez are elected.
Continue to pray for revival in Multnomah County and
for the enormous amount of influence the voters of Multnomah County have.
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