John Heard Couch
| John H. Couch | |
|---|---|
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| Treasurer for the Provisional Government of Oregon | |
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In office March 4, 1846 – October 15, 1847 |
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| Preceded by | Francis Ermatinger |
| Succeeded by | William K. Kilbourne |
| Constituency | Oregon Country |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 28, 1811 Newburyport, Massachusetts |
| Died | January 19, 1870 (aged 58) Portland, Oregon |
| Occupation | Sailor, ship captain, politician |
John Heard Couch (/ˈkuːtʃ/ KOOCH; February 28, 1811 – January 19, 1870) was an American sea captain and pioneer in the Oregon Country in the 19th century. Often referred to as Captain Couch, he became famous for his singular skill at navigation of the Columbia Bar. He was a founder of Portland, Oregon.
He was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts. As a boy, he developed a desire to be a sailor and shipped on a voyage to the East Indies on the brig Mars. The Mars was owned by the uncle of Capt. George H. Flanders, with whom he would later go into business. The financial success of his first voyage led to his receiving a command of the Maryland in 1840 from the father of Caleb Cushing. His first voyage in the Maryland was from Newburyport to the Columbia River, where he intended to exchange various goods for a cargo of salmon. At the time, the mouth of the Columbia was considered one of the most hazardous places for navigation on earth, because of the presence of a large sand bar. His attempt at a trading voyage was rebuffed by the Hudson's Bay Company, which controlled commerce in the Oregon Country. The Maryland was subsequently sent to the Hawaiian Islands, where it was sold. Couch returned to Massachusetts by finding passage on another vessel.
Cushing did not attribute the failure of the trading voyage to Couch, however, and entrusted him with a command a second vessel Chenamos, named after a Native American chief along the Columbia with whom Couch had established friendly relations on his first voyage. He arrived in the Pacific Northwest in June 1842, navigating up the Columbia and the Willamette River to just below Oregon City, which was the largest settlement in the Oregon Country, which at the time was still disputed between the U.S. and Great Britain. Couch successfully established a general store and sent his brig home, remaining in the Oregon Country for five years. In 1845, during his stay in Oregon, he took a claim of land, now known as "Couch's Addition", in present-day Northwest Portland. The dispute between the U.S. and Great Britain over the Oregon Country, however, prevented him from perfecting the claim at the time. On March 4, 1846, Couch was appointed as treasurer of the Provisional Government of Oregon after Francis Ermatinger resigned. In 1847 he took passage back to Massachusetts via China, arriving in Newburyport in 1848.
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