Portal:Oregon/Selected biography/9

David Preston Thompson (November 8, 1834 – December 14, 1901) was a United States Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, a mayor of Portland, Oregon, served in the Oregon State Senate, and a business person involved with the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company. Thompson was born in Cadiz, Ohio, of Irish and Scottish descent. In 1853 at the age of 19 Thompson moved to Oregon Territory. There he helped build the a railroad around Willamette Falls near Oregon City, which was the first railroad in Oregon. With the outbreak of the Civil War, Thompson enlisted in the Army where he rose to the rank of captain in the First Oregon Cavalry. In 1868 David Thompson served in the state senate representing Clackamas County as a Republican. Then in 1874 he was appointed by the President as the governor of Idaho Territory, and served from 1875 to 1876. Thompson returned to the Oregon Legislature representing Multnomah County in 1878. From June 1879 until June 1882 he served consecutive terms as the Mayor of Portland, before returning to the legislature in 1889. In 1890, he lost the election for Oregon Governor as the Republican nominee, but in 1892 President Harrison appointed Thompson as United States minister to the Ottoman Empire where he served until resigning in 1893. David Thompson died December 14, 1901, in Portland. He donated a fountain to Portland located in downtown, and after his death his family donated a statue named The coming of the White Man that stands in Washington Park.