Portal:Oregon/Selected biography/13

Ewing Young (1799 - February 9, 1841) was an American trapper from Tennessee who traveled the western United States before settling in Oregon Country. As a prominent citizen there, his death was the impetus for the early formation of government in that region. In 1830, Young led the first American trapping expedition to reach the Pacific Coast from New Mexico. After recuperating near Los Angeles, the group visited the San Fernando Mission, and headed north into California's great Central Valley. In California Young trapped and traded before returning to Taos. He would continue with this pattern until 1834 when Young encountered Hall J. Kelley in San Diego. Kelley invited Ewing Young to accompany him north to Oregon, but Young at first declined. After re-thinking, Young agreed to travel with Kelley and they set out in July 1834. They arrived in Oregon in 1834, arriving at Fort Vancouver on October 17th. Young settled on the west bank of the Willamette River near the mouth of Chehalem Creek, opposite of Champoeg. A few years later Young was the leader of the Willamette Cattle Company that in January 1837 traveled to California with the assistance of Lieutenant William A. Slacum on the ship Loriot, and brought back 630 head of cattle along the Siskiyou Trail helping to make Young the wealthiest settler in Oregon. In February of 1841, Young died without any known heir and without a will, creating a need for some form of government to deal with his estate, as he had many debtors and creditors among the settlers. The activities that followed his death eventually led to the creation of a provisional government in the Oregon Country.