The immigration of 1844 was composed of about fourteen hundred persons. They suffered many hardships and many lost all, or a part of, their cattle, clothing, and goods. Most of these immigrants arrived late in the season. Snow began to fall before all arrived at their destinations. Boats were supplied free, and provisions, cattle, and seed-wheat were furnished them on credit by Dr. McLoughlin, as he had the immigrants of 1843. The supplies in Oregon had been nearly exhausted by the immigration of 1843, although Dr. McLoughlin had urged the raising of grain and other supplies in anticipation of the coming of the immigration of 1844. The available supply of clothing at Fort Vancouver had been practically exhausted before the arrival of the immigration of 1844.
John Minto, who is still living in Oregon, was one of the immigrants of 1844. In his address presenting to the State of Oregon the portrait of Dr. John McLoughlin, which now hangs in the Senate Chamber, he said: "To the assistance given to the Immigrants of 1843, as described by Col. Nesmith, I can add as an eyewitness, that those of 1844 received the loan of boats in which to descend the Columbia River from The Dalles (there being no road across the Cascades [mountains]); the hungry were fed, the sick cared for and nursed, and, not the least, was the fact that many of the employées of the Hudson's Bay Company followed the good Doctor in their treatment of the Americans. Especially was this the case in the settlement of retired Canadians who almost worshipped him."
Joseph Watt, the well-known enterprising pioneer of 1844, who largely assisted in starting the first woolen mill in Oregon, in 1857, in his "Recollections of Dr. John McLoughlin," published in the _Transactions_ of the Oregon Pioneer Association of 1886 said (pages 24 and 25): "On the 13th of November, 1844, a company of immigrants landed at Fort Vancouver, brought there on a bateau commanded by Joseph Hess, an immigrant of '43. The boat belonged to the Hudson's Bay Company. Mr. Hess was entrusted with the boat for the purpose of bringing immigrants down the river. We had eaten the last of our provisions at our last camp, and were told by Hess that we could get plenty at the fort, with or without money;--that the old Doctor never turned people away hungry. This made us feel quite comfortable, for there was not a dollar among us. As near as I can remember the company consisted of sixteen men, five women and four children.... We were the first to arrive.... We soon found the Doctor in a small room he called his office.... He spoke of our being so late, and feared there would be considerable suffering before they could all be taken down the river, but should do all in his power until they reached their destination.