I don't know if this is common knowledge, but I just read of it today:
The Pacific Fur Company was an American owned business created in 1810 that had set up shop in the Oregon Country to obtain furs and sell supplies there. Both America and Russia sought to prevent the British owned North West Company from expanding its influence to the Pacific, and so there was an interest in keeping an American and Russian presence in the area. In 1812 the PFC negotiated to supply Russian American settlements in exchange for furs, which PFC ships would then sell in China for a large profit. The PFC ships would buy Chinese luxuries, and return with them to the America.
With the advent of the War of 1812, the British had a much greater military position in the Pacific than the Americans did, and so the PFC sold its assets to the NWC in 1813 to avoid loss through wartime capture. The NWC was later merged into the Hudson Bay Company 1821 by act of the British Government. American influence would not reassert itself until the mid-1840s.
So what do you think? If the Pacific Fur Company had been more lucky, or if the War of 1812 had been avoided, would more of the Oregon Country have been settled by Americans? Would Russia America have persisted to a greater degree?