Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 13.djvu/100

92 FREDERICK V. HOLMAN othetf parts of America, not within the protection of Lower or Upper Canada, nor of any civil government of the United States. Under this law, Justices of the Peace in the Oregon Country were appointed. James Douglas, afterwards knighted and Governor of Vancouver's Island, was the first Justice of the Peace at Fort Vancouver. But this act of Parliament did not apply to American citizens, and no attempt was made to enforce it upon them. SETTLERS IN THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY. As early as 1825, from what he had seen of the Oregon Country, Dr. John McLoughlin concluded that Western Ore- gon was the finest portion of North America, that he had seen, for the residence of civilized man. He later ascertained that wheat of an exceptionally fine quality grew there. The Hudson's Bay Company was bound, under heavy penal- ties, not to discharge any of its servants or employes, in the Indian country, and to return them to the places where they were originally hired. But prior to 1827, several Canadian servants or employes, whose times of service were about ended, did not desire to return to Canada but to settle in Oregon. To accommodate these persons, Dr. McLoughlin agreed to keep them on the books of the Company, to purchase, their wheat, and to sell them supplies at very reasonable prices. The first settler in the Willamette Valley was Etienne Lucier. He first settled at a point about where Stephens' Addition to East Port- land is situated, but in the year 1827, or 1828 (the exact year is doubtful), he moved to what is now called French Prairie, not far from Champoeg, and made there his permanent resi- dence, which continued during his life. He died in 1853. In course of time, other French-Canadian servants or em- ployes of the Hudson's Bay Company settled on French Prairie, so that, in 1841, there were a number of families there, the number of grown men being about sixty. Hon. Willard H. Rees, in the annual address, in 1879, before the Oregon Pioneer Association, speaking of these French- Canadian settlers, said: