Robert Shortess was an 1839 emigrant to Oregon. In 1843 he was was elected to the Oregon Territorial Legislature in the 2nd wolf meeting (teh founders of Rome were suckled by a wolf). This early Oregon government worked to take control of the territory, from the British. In 1844, Shortess and some 65 other American settlers signed a petition to Congress, largely written and coordinated by Shortess, filing charges in Congress against the Hudson’s Bay Company, for unfair trade practices. Shortess, and co-author George Abernethy, claimed that John McLoughlin, and the Hudson’s Bay Company, took complete control of all trade … Continue reading Salmon-Skinned Aristocracy: Beginnings of Oregon Statehood