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Racial Elements
OREGON'S racial background is principally American. The first white inhabitants—the hunters and trappers, explorers, traders and fanners of 1800 to 1820, were either American-born or American in their general outlook, habits and ambitions. The Hudson's Bay Company, which established Fort Vancouver in 1824-25, though Britishcontrolled and in part British manned, employed many French-Canadians who, when their terms of service expired, settled on French Prairie in Marion County, where their descendants can be found today. The Hudson's Bay Company also prepared the way for the missionary settlers, zealous Americans who endeavored to improve the lot of the Oregon Indians.
In the wake of the Methodist missionaries, beginning about 1840, a few American settlers began to cross the great plains, the number increasing until the first large immigration arrived in 1843. From then on, almost every year showed a steady numerical increase, Missouri being the leading contributor to the population flow. These settlers were looking for economic opportunities more favorable than could be found in the older sections of the country and, regardless of their diverse national origins—German, English, Irish, Dutch, Scotch, Scandinavian, French and Italian—they were already Americans in their general outlook, habits and ambitions.
During the 1 850*8 gold hunters, adventurers and settlers drifted into Oregon from California; merchants and mechanics, laborers and professional men arrived from New England, the eastern seaboard and the Mississippi Basin, seeking more favorable economic opportunities than could be found in those regions.
In 1860 Oregon had a population of 52,465, which increased by decades— to 90,923; 174,768; 317,704; 413,536; 672,765; and 783,389, bringing the 1930 population to 953,786. In 1860 the per cent of foreign born was 9.8, which mounted to 18.0 per cent in 1890 and fell again to 11.6 per cent in 1930. The increase of aliens corresponds to the period of railroad construction when swarms of common laborers,
