A narrative of events and difficulties in the colonization of Oregon, and the settlement of California


Title Cover Image: A narrative of events and difficulties in the colonization of Oregon, and the settlement of California

Published as a bitter retrospective by early American expansionist Hall J. Kelley, this narrative details his obsessive, decades-long crusade to promote the American colonization of the Oregon Country during the 1820s and 1830s. The text chronicles his arduous journey to the Pacific Northwest, his near-fatal experiences in California, and his intense clashes with the British Hudson's Bay Company, whom he accused of actively thwarting his utopian settlement plans. Throughout the volume, Kelley airs his profound grievances against both the British monopoly and the United States government, demanding recognition and financial compensation for his role in sparking the mass migration that eventually secured the territory. A keen insight drawn from the text regarding Oregon is how Kelley's fanaticism highlights the paradoxical nature of early frontier boosterism; while his relentless printed propaganda successfully catalyzed the "Oregon Fever" that ultimately flooded the Willamette Valley with American pioneers, his own lack of pragmatic leadership and profound paranoia rendered him a tragic, marginalized figure in the very colonization movement he helped create.

Author(s): Hall J Kelley
Document: Book · Hardcover · ONLINE CIRC [ 1 ]
Edition: 1st Edition
Published: 1852
Physical Description: 92 pages
Genre: History
People: Hall J Kelley, 1790-1874 (Author)

 

Circulation

Here are a list of places where this title can be found and the various formats it can be found in.

Collection Resource Available Edition Published Publisher
Internet Archive: Books Book Digital 1st Edition 1852 Thurston, Torry, Emerson

 

Last updated: 2026-09-13