John McLoughlin held the role as chief factor in the Columbia Department of the Hudson's Bay Company. His career following his retirement from the company in 1846 is less well known. In 1962, the United States National Park Service acquired the McLoughlin letter book. These letters provide insights into the wide range of his interests and affairs in Oregon City, and they show his continuing relations, both economic and personal, with the Hudson's Bay Company and its officers. The letters also provide an increased understanding of the problems and frustrations that a frontier community had in struggling to diversify and expand its economy.--adapted from the preface