Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1905-06-02
SAVED TO THE UNION BY WHEAT.
account by ". II. BrfndIey
OF oregon Sosn.-y's Preservation.

Statistics recently compiled by the
department OF ommerc and labor
show that during the nine months end
ing with March, 1905. more wheat was
exported from Portland. Ore, than from
any other city in the United States.
The statement has been made that
there viii be two expositions In Oregon
this yeaf-the Lewis and Clark exposi-
ton at Portland, and the Oregon
Country, which Is in itself an EXPOSE
ton greater han any that mar could
build. The Lewis and Clark exposition
will represent. when its gates are
thrown open to the public on june l.
an expenditure OF five million dollars,
n the value OF the exhibits will be
at least five times that amount. These
are large sums; yet, taken together,
they do not equal the value OF the
1904 wheat crop of the Inland En-
pre-" which composes only a part OF
the territory that was added to the do
main OF the United States by the Lewis
and Clark expedition, the centennial OF
which the Western Worlds fair Is to
commemorate. Reliable statistics place
the extent OF the wheat crop OF the
Inland Empire" last season at As, $780,
600 bushels which, at rs cents a bushel
TO the producer, means that the wheat
crop brought the farmers OF thai Won
derful section $a4,l 25,0 900 last year.
The INLAND Empire" which includes
the eastern portions OF Oregon and
Washington and the western part OF
Idaho-ft has no definitely defined
boundaries Is but a small part OF
the Oregon country, which Lewis and
Clark secured for the United States by
their expedition. The Oregon country
embraced 307. 900 square miles, and in
Guided the present states OF Oregon,
Washington and Idaho. and parts OF
Montana and Wyoming. The value OF
the total agricultural yield of that
country in any n yea far exceeds
the cost and value of exhibits OF any
exposition ever held. The virtue in
these figures lies in the fact that they
will bear investigation.
1t was wheat that saved the Oregon
country 10 the union, wheat and the
big-heartedness OF DR.. John McLough-
lin and the story OF DIR. Mclaughlin
and his wheat forms a romance worthy
of a boo DIR. Mclaughlin, sturdy En-
glishman though he was. saved the
American settlers from starvation by
providing them with wheat, and his
timely succor enabled tile United States
to make good by settlement her claim
on he country by right OF discovery.
DR.. Mclaughlin, who had been In
the employ of the Hudson's Bay conf
pdHy IOF twenty-five years, was made
chief factor, or head man, for the COM
pany for the territory west OF the
Rocky mountains. in 1924, upon the
consolidation of the Hudson's Bay COM
pany with the Northwest
Eleven years previous to this John
Jacob Astor's u%nfaithful followers had
betrayed Astoria TO the British. As
toria was built on the south bank OF
the Columbia river. near It's mouth,
with heavily-timbered hills behind IL.
Or. Mclaughlin moved the. headquar-
ters OF his company TO Vancouver, four
miles north of the present city OF
portland. where crops could be raised,
and in the fall of 1924 he sem back
east and secured two bushels OF wheat.
which he planted the next fall on the
site of the present military post of
Fort Vancouver. The wheat did well.
so we'll that In 1928 the importation OF
flour was stopped.
Thus was the beginning made. DIR.
Mclaughlin was a wise man. and a
shrewd manager. His trappers and
hunters were men who had been In