Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1905-06-02

his employ for twenty years, Ind they
We're getting too old to be valuable Co
the Hudson's Ray company as pelt GET
tiers. The factor could not afford to.
pension his hunters. and he was too
| hearted to let them starve, SO he
conceived a plan whereby he still could
profit by their services, and at the same
time provide them with a means OF
livelihood.
This Russian operating 10
Alaska. needed wheat, and by contract
with Count Baronoff, representative OF
the Russian authorities at Sitka, DIR.
Mclaughlin made an arrangement
whereby he Was TO furnish a certain
supply OF wheat in exchange for
trapping privileges. He gave his old
hunters seed, and allotted them land.
and the veteran woodsmen set about
raising the crop on what became known
as French prairie, a few miles south
of Portland, on the Willamette river.
The trappers proved good husbandmen,
and when the Whitman party reached
Vancouver in September, 1886, Mrs
Whitman recorded in her diary that the
wheat crop would amount that season
to 1000 bushels. The quart OF wheat
which, according to Parkman, Marcus
Whitman had carried across the plains
and the mountains. and which. accord
ing to h same authority. was the first
TO be planted In the Oregon country.
was not needed. The Whitman party
got seed wheat from DIR. Mclaughlin.
The first American to raise wheat in
Oregon was John Ball, OF Lansingburg.
N. X. Ball taught school at Vancouver
for DIR. Mclaughlin in the winter OF
lSS3-'S4, and In the spring borrowed
seed wheat of the factor and raised
a crop, which he sold 10 DIR. McLough-
lin, returning then to New York on
the passage money which his wheat
had earned for him.
The big -heartedness OF Or. McLough-
lin, which saved the Oregon country
to the union, cost him his position as
factor, with Its salary OF $4,000 a year.
The early American emigrantS arrived
at Vancouver penniless and without
supplies. To each DIR. McLoughiin
made this proposition II will lend
you as much wheat as you think you
can plant, and when you get In your
you can pay me back" 1t was a
generous proposition, and the settlers
always accepted II. But the Hudson's
Bay company, which knew, as did It's
factor, that settlers ruined the fur
trade, heard OF the arrangement. and
In 1876 DIR. Mclaughlin was forced to
resign.
The statistics from the department OF
m and labor showing hat more
wheat is shipped from Portland than
any other city In the United States are
doubly interesting when we consider
the difficulties under which the early
exporters struggled. The first ship.
ment OF flour was made in 1856, when
a cargo was sent to China. but the
first expectation OF wheat occurred In
1858, and the investor lost his for
tune In the venture.
Wheat was a drug on the market;
the people could raise more of IL thar
they could use. Ii occurred to one
Joseph Watt that in this circumstance
lay the opportunity for fortune. He
a sailing vessel, loaded her
with wheat, and shipped the cargo to
New York by way OF Cape Horn. When
the vessel arrived, the grain buyers
kernels of wheat, that the cargo
had either been tempered with, or
had suffered damage In the long voy-
age. and they refused to accept
II. They were unwilling to believe that
large kernels could grow any
where.