Osborne Russell

Osborne Russell
Second Executive Committee
In office 1844–1845
Preceded by	First Executive Committee
Succeeded by	George Abernethy
Constituency	Oregon Country
Personal details
Born	1814 Maine
Died

Osborne Russell (1814 – August 2, 1892) was a mountain man and politician who helped form the government of the U.S. state of Oregon. He was born in Maine.

Russell first came to the Oregon Country in 1834 as a member of Nathaniel J. Wyeth's second expedition. He returned to the country in 1842 with the Elijah White party. He participated in the May 2, 1843 Champoeg Meeting, voting in favor of forming a government. In October of that year he was selected by the First Executive Committee to serve as the supreme judge for the Provisional Government of Oregon and served until May 14, 1844. In 1844, he was elected to the second Executive Committee of the Provisional Government of Oregon. He was allied with the group that planned to create an independent Republic of the Pacific and thus was unsuccessful in his run for governor of the Provisional Government in 1845, losing to George Abernethy. Russell eventually went to California.

Although not published until well after the establishment of Yellowstone National Park, Osborne's Journal of a Trapper contains an early description of the Lamar Valley or Osborne's Secluded Valley in Yellowstone.

Works

• Russell, Osborne and Aubrey L. Haines. Journal of a Trapper: In the Rocky Mountains Between 1834 and 1843; Comprising a General Description of the Country, Climate, Rivers, Lakes ISBN 1-58976-052-2

External links

• Osborne Russell at Find a Grave

Preceded by First Executive Committee with Alanson Beers David Hill Joseph Gale

Second Executive Committee Provisional Government of Oregon 1844-1845 with William J. Bailey Peter G. Stewart

Succeeded by Governor of Provisional Government George Abernethy