High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Champoeg Meetings in Oregon Country were the first attempts at governing in the Pacific Northwest by United States European-American pioneers. Prior to this, the closest entity to a government was the Hudson`s Bay Company, mainly through Dr. John McLoughlin at Fort Vancouver in present day Vancouver, Washington. There were a series of meetings over three years held at Champoeg on the French Prairie along the Willamette River in present day Marion County, Oregon, beginning in 1841.