The Great State of O'Reagan?

POD 1830, Irish immigrants to the Columbia River Valley write glowing reports to their families back home.
When the Great Potato Famine strikes during the 1840s, so many Irish emigrate to Oregon that they dominate the state .... population-wise.

It helps if East-Coast cities like Quebec, Boston, New York and Philidelphia refuse Irish refugees.
ITTL many thousands travel as indentured labourers, but better nutrition and milder climate mean that most survive their indenture.
Does the Catholic Church help organize refugee ships?
Do Orangemen organize refugee ships?
Do Irish Catholics dominate O'Reagan?
Do Irish Protestants dominate O'Reagan?
Does anyone care which church your grandfather prayed in?
 
Probably mostly men.
As early as 1847, businessmen were proposing a trans-continental railroad linking the Columbia River with the East Coast. That meshes gracefully with the Great Potato Famine
freeing hundreds of thousands of Irish labourers desperate for work.
Just give them tools and beans and tell them to start laying track eastwards from the Oregon Territories.
 
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