# History of Oregon (Bancroft)/Volume 2/Chapter 24

CHAPTER XXIV.
LATER EVENTS.
1887-1888
Taking a later general view of progress, I find that the multiplication of railroad enterprises had become in 1887–8 a striking feature of Oregon's , unfolding. In this sudden development, the Northern Pacific had taken the initiative, causing the construction of the lines of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, the formation of the Oregon and Transcontinental and other companies, and finally the control for a time of the Northern Pacific by the Oregon interest. That these operations miscarried to some extent was the natural sequence of overstrained effort. The city of Portland, and to a considerable extent, the state, suffered by the neglect of the Northern Pacific Terminal Company to construct a ​bridge over the Willamette river, and erect depot buildings on the west side. These drawbacks to the perfection of railroad service were removed, so far as a bridge is concerned, in June 1888, when the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company completed one, which was followed soon after by the erection of the present union depôt.
In the meantime two important changes took place in the railway system of the state. Negotiations had been for three years pending for the purchase of the bankrupt Oregon and California railroad, which were renewed in January 1887. The terms of the proposed agreement were, in effect, that the first mortgage bond-holders should be paid at the rate of 110 for their new forty-years' gold five percent bonds, guaranteed principal and interest, by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company of California, together with four pounds in cash for each old bond; the new bonds to be issued at the rate of $30,000 per mile, and secured by a new mortgage, equivalent in point of lien and priority to the first mortgage, and bearing interest from July 1, 1886. Preferred stockholders would receive one share of Central Pacific, together with four shillings sterling for each preferred share, and common stockholders one share of Central Pacific and three shillings for every four common shares. The transfer actually took place on the first of May, 1887, and the road was completed to a junction at the town of Ashland on the 17th of December of that year. This sale gave the California system the control of the trunk line to the Columbia river, and gave encouragement to the long contemplated design of its managers to extend branch lines eastward into Idaho and beyond. The Southern Pacific Company also purchased the Oregon railway ​in 1887, which had been sold in 1880 to William Reid of Portland.
At the same time the Union Pacific, having modified its views since the period when it was offered an interest in the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company, desired to secure a perpetual lease of this property. To this proposition the Oregon people were largely friendly, because it would change the status of the road from a merely local line to a link in a through line to Omaha, the other link being the Oregon Short Line railroad, a Wyoming corporation, but controlled by the Union Pacific. The lease was signed January 1, 1887, and was made to the Oregon Short Line, the rental being guaranteed by the Union Pacific at five per centum of the earnings of the demised premises.
Seeing in this arrangement a future railroad war in which the Northern Pacific and Union Pacific would be, if not equal, at least coincident sufferers, Villard, who had regained his standing in the company by coming to its relief with funds to construct the costly Cascades division, desired to make the lease a joint one, by which means the threatened competition should be avoided. But competition was not undesirable to the people, who had more cause to fear pooling. Besides, it was but natural that the Northern should wish to occupy all the country north of Snake river with its own feeders, and to confine the Oregon road to the country south of it. But the wheat region of eastern Washington, and the rich mineral region of northern Idaho, were the fields into which Oregon wished to extend its business. These points being brought forward in the discussion of the ​propesed joint lease, it was endeavored to smooth the way to an agreement by conceding to the Oregon line the carrying trade arising over a portion of the Northern feeders.
The agreement gave the right and power, after July 1, 1888, for ninety-nine years, to the Oregon Short Line and Northern Pacific companies jointly to manage, operate, and control the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company s railroad; to fix rates of transportation, to dispose of the revenues equally be tween them, and to pay equally the rental agreed upon in the original lease. It being apparent to the enemies of this arrangement that the majority of the directors of the Oregon company would be persuaded to sign the lease, a temporary injunction was applied for in the state circuit court by Van B. De Lashmutt, mayor of Portland, which injunction was granted March 1888, upon the ground of violation of Oregon law. It was subsequently dissolved, and the lease went into effect in July of that year. None of the parties to the agreement pretended that it would stand a legal test, but knew that it was liable to be abrogated at any time when circumstances should make it repugnant to either of the joint lessees.
The Oregon Pacific, a name given to the Corvallis and Yaquina Bay railroad, subsequent to the inception, was completed to Albany in 1886, where a bridge over the Willamette was formally opened on the 6th of January, 1887. It was, and still is, making its ​way eastward from that town, through a pass at the head waters of the Santiam river. From the summit, which is 4,377 feet above sea level, the descent was easy and from Des Chutes river the route laid out passed through a farming country equal in productiveness to the famous wheat-growing basin of the Columbia in Washington, taking in the Harney and Malheur valleys, running through a pass in the mountains to Snake river and thence to Boisé, there to connect with eastern roads. The road at Yaquina connects with the Oregon Development Company's line of stoamers to San Francisco. The last spike was driven January 28, 1887, on a railroad from Pendleton in eastern Oregon to the Walla Walla, and other extensions of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company's lines speedily followed.
The Portland and Willamette valley railroad is an extension of the narrow guage system of the western counties before described. It was carried into Portland along the west bank of the Willamette, in the autumn of 1887, and affords easy and rapid transit to the suburban residences within a few miles of the city by frequent local as well as through trains.
Portland improved rapidly between 1880 and 1888. It left off its plain pioneer ways, or all that was left of them, and projected various public and private embellishments to the city. It erected two theatres, and a pavilion in which were held industrial exhibitions. A beautiful medical college was a triumph of architecture. The school board, inspired by the donation of $60,000 to the school fund by Mr Henry Villard, indulged in the extravagance of the most elegant and costly high-school building on the Pacific coast, and several new churches were erected. Citizens vied with each other in adopting tasteful designs ​for their residences ; parks and streets were im proved ; street-car lines added to the convenience of locomotion ; business blocks arose that rivalled in stability those of older commercial cities; and wharves extended farther and farther along the river front.
In May 1887 articles of incorporation were filed by a number of real estate brokers, who formed a Real Estate Exchange. The object of the corporation, as expressed, was laudable, and their number promised success, and the erection of a handsome Exchange building. The military companies built themselves an armory on an imposing design, and the Young Men's Christian Association followed with a structure of great merit, while a building known by the name of the Portland Library, and destined to be occupied ​by that institution, was built by subscriptions obtained chiefly by its first president, Judge Deady. An immense hotel, costing nearly a million dllars, and an art glass manufactory were added in 1888.
East Portland shared in the prosperity of the greater city, and having a larger extent of level land for town-site purposes, offered better facilities for building cheap homes for the working classes. The Portland Reduction works was located there, and opened in the spring of 1887, for smelting ores from the mines of Oregon and Idaho. Street cars were introduced here in 1888, connecting with West Portland by means of a track laid on a bridge over the Willamette at Morrison street, and with Albina by another bridge across the ravine which separates them. The extensive ware houses and other improvements of the Northern Pacific railroad were at Albina, which thus became the actual terminus of that road, and of all the transcontinental roads coming to Portland. A railroad across the plains northeast of East Portland carried passengers to the Columbia, opposite Vancouver, and brought that charming locality into close neighborhood to Portland.
At Oswego, a few miles south of Portland, the Oregon Iron Company's works, which in 1883 were closed on account of the low price of iron, and the incapacity of the furnaces to be profitably operated, were reopened in 1888 by the Iron and Steel Works Company, employing over three hundred men. The ​water power at Oregon City, which ever since 1841 had been a source of discord, and had constituted at times an injurious monopoly, had finally come into the hands of a syndicate of Portland and Oregon City men, who designed to make the latter place what nature intended it to be--the great manufacturing centre of the state.
The estimated value of property in Multnomah county at the close of 1887 was $27,123,780, and the value of transfers for that year about $6,000,000. The immigation to the state numbered nearly fifty thousand, and the importation of cash was estimated at $19,221,000. All parts of the state partook of the new growth. Salem had received the splendid state asylum for the insane, and the schools for the blind and the deaf and dumb, a manufactory of agricultural machinery, and other substantial improvements, be sides a woman s college, and a public school building in East Salem costing $40,000.
The county-seat of Yamhill county had been removed to the flourishing town of McMinnville. Corvallis, Albany, Eugene, and the towns in southern Oregon, of which Ashland was in the lead, all throve excellently.
​Mining also had a strong revival in the southern and eastern counties, while new discoveries and rediscoveries were made in the Cascade range in Marion and Clackamas counties. No mining furore is likely ever to take place again in this state, if anywhere in the northwest. Placers such as drew thousands to Rogue river in 1851, and to John Day river in 1862, will probably never again be discovered. The hydraulic gravel mines of Jackson and Josephine counties have proved valuable properties, and a few quartz mines on the eastern border of the state have returned good profits. The reduction works at East Portland were erected to reduce the ores of the Coeur d'Alene silver district chiefly. Much Oregon capital had become interested in Coeur d'Alene, and also in the recently discovered mines of Salmon river in eastern Washington, which were found upon the Chief Moses reservation, which is in the Okanagan country of the upper Columbia, once hastily prospected by miners in the Colville mining excitement, but only known to contain quartz mines since 1887. The total gold product of Oregon in 1887 was over half a million, and of silver about $25,000.
Although there is no lack of building stone in Oregon, if county statistics may be believed, the ​fact remains that but one quarry is known to produce good building material, and that one is at East Port land, from which was taken the stone used in erecting the lighthouse at Tillamook. The difficulty of obtaining suitable material for the jetty being constructed at the mouth of the Columbia has delayed the work, and occasioned loss to contractors. As much as $20,000 was expended in exploring for good rock for this purpose in vain, a limited supply being found at one place only on the river. Yet there is known to be an abundance of good stone in the mountains of Lewis and Clarke river, near the mouth of the Columbia; but a railroad of fifteen miles is required to bring it to the coast, and $150,000 will have to be expended out of the appropriation for the work of improving the mouth of the Columbia.
The plan of this work is to construct a low-tide jetty from near Fort Stevens, four and a half miles in a slightly convex course to a point three miles south of Cape Disappointment. It is intended both as a protection to Fort Stevens, and as the means of securing deep water in the channel. The cost is computed at $3,710,000, and of this only $287,500 had been appropriated in 1887. The work was begun under the appropriation act of July 5, 1884. So far as it has progressed its effect on the entrance to the river has proven satisfactory. The lack of depth in the channel, which it is the intention to keep at thirty feet, prevents American vessels with deep bottoms from entering the river, while the light-draught British iron-bottomed vessels secure the trade.
​The state of Oregon is much indebted to the efforts of United States Senator J. N. Dolph for the government aid granted in improving the Columbia, as well as some lesser waterways. The drainage area of the Columbia is estimated by him to be greater than the aggregate area of all New England, the middle states, and Maryland and Virginia; and the far larger portion lies east of the Cascade range, which has no other water-level pass from the northern boundary of Washington to the southern line of Oregon. This pass is monopolized by the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company s track on the south side, and by a railway portage of the same corporation on the north side. The government has undertaken to facilitate free navigation by constructing locks at the upper Cascades and improving the rapids, but the work is costly and proceeds with the proverbial tardiness of government undertakings, where appropriations are held out year after year with apparent reluctance, while the treasury is overflowing with its surplus. The work has been going on for eight or ten years, during which time only about half the $2,205,000 required has been appropriated. The river and harbor line passed by congress in 1888, and warmly advocated by the Oregon senators, was shaped by them to carry forward these important improvements. Another improvement advocated by Dolph is a local railway at the Dalles, which will cost $1,373,000. Besides this, the rapids of the Columbia above the mouth of Snake river will require to overcome them, the expenditure of $3,005,000; that is, the sum of $5,440,500 will, it is believed, open to competition a distance of 750 miles. This will have the effect to cheapen freights, which now are entirely in the hands of the railroad combination, except on the lower Columbia. There can be no doubt that these improvements will be made at no very distant day, when the Columbia will be a continuous waterway reaching 1,000 miles into the interior of the continent. The Oregon ​delegation in Washington was very persistent at this period in claiming appropriations for public works. Senator Mitchell obtained $80,000 for the erection of a first-class lighthouse near the mouth of the Umpqua river; $15,000 for a site and wharf at Astoria for the use of the lighthouse department, and asked for money to construct the revetment of the Willamette at Corvallis.
The coast counties developed very gradually, although they received a part of the immigration, and were finally prosperous. Scottsburg projected a railway which, if it can be extended to Coos bay, should be a good investment. At Sinslaw a settlement was made, with three fish-canning establishments, and a saw-mill. There being a good entrance to the river, the bottom lands rich, the water excellent, and the climate healthful, this section offered attractions to settlers, and a railroad might be made to connect with one from Scottsburg.
Yaquina, from the opening given it by the Oregon Pacific, and a line of steamers to San Francisco, made considerable growth, assumed pretensions of a fashion able resort, and planned to erect a large hotel a few miles south of the bay, where hunting, fishing, and beach driving were guaranteed the tourist. Little change had been effected in the more northern coast counties.
In eastern Oregon two new counties were organized—Morrow county, named after Governor Morrow, with the county seat at Heppuer, and formed out of the south-west portion of Umatilla; and Wallowa ​county, formed out of a portion of Union, with the county seat at Joseph. Railroads were being rapidly constructed from all directions toward the main lines to carry out the crops, wool, and stock of this division of the state. The wool clip of 1887, which was shipped to Portland, was 12,534,485 pounds, the greater portion of which was from eastern Oregon. The movement at Portland of wheat and flour for 1887 equalled the bulk of the wheat production of Oregon and eastern Washington combined. Lumping the receipts of Willamette valley and eastern Oregon and Washington wheat, there were received at Portland 3,927,458 centals, against 5,531,995 received in 1886; and 302,299 barrels of flour against 354,277 for the latter year. Of this amount, 553,920 centals of wheat, and 165,786 barrels of flour, were from the Willamette valley. A fleet of 73 vessels, registering 93,320 tons, was loaded with grain at Oregon wharves.
There has been a steady decline in salmon canning on the Columbia since 1883, falling from 630,000 cases to 400,000 in 1887. This may reasonably be attributed to the over-fishing practised for several years consecutively. Nature does not provide against such greed, and it is doubtful if art can do it. The government, either state or general, should assume control of this industry by licensing a certain number of canneries, of given capacity, for a limited period, and improving the hatcheries. Otherwise there is a prospect that the salmon, like the buffalo, may become extinct.
Although Oregon built the first saw-mills on the Pacific coast, and enjoyed for a few years the monopoly of the lumber trade with California and the Ha​\n
waiian islands, since the establishment of the immense lumbering and milling properties on Puget sound, chiefly controlled by capital in San Francisco, it has been difficult to market Oregon lumber, except on sufferance from the great lumber firms. In 1885, however, the experiment was made of sending cargoes of lumber to the eastern states direct by rail, which has resulted in a trade of constantly increasing im portance, having grown from 1,000,000 feet to 10,000,- 000 feet monthly. The market is found everywhere along the line from Salt Lake to Chicago. The lease to the Union Pacific of the Oregon Railway and Nav igation Company s lines will facilitate this traffic. This trade belongs at present solely to Oregon, and is inde pendent of the 100,000,000 feet exported annually to Pacific coast markets. 11
19 In many ways the improvement in local institutions might be noted. A fruit grower s association was formed, Dr J. R. Cardwell, president, which held its first annual meeting January 5, 1887. On the llth of the same month the Portland Produce Exchange was organized. The state "board of immigration transferred its office to the Portland board of trade in Sept. 1887. A G-atling battery was added to the military organizations of Portland. On April 7, 1886, the Native Sons of Oregon organized. On the 17th of August, 1887, the corner stone of the new Agricultural college was laid at Corvallis. The state has done nothing to withdraw the Agricultural college from the influences of sectarianism. The Southern Methodist State Agricultural college, as a local newspaper calls it, will not rise to the stand ing which the people have a right to demand for it until it becomes, as con gress intended, a part of the state university. A free kindergarten system was inaugurated in Portland; and a Woman s Exchange opened, which gave cheap homes to homeless women, with assistance in finding employment. The Teachers National convention of 1888 at San Francisco showed the work of the Portland schools to be very nearly equal to the best in the United States, and superior to many of the eastern cities. Albany, since the incep tion of the Oregon Pacific R. R. , has gained several new business institutions. The railroad round-house and shops were located there. Among its manu factories were extensive flouring mills, furniture factories, wire works, iron foundries, and a fruit packing establishment. An opera house was erected by a joint stock company, and a public school building costing $20,000. The aggregate cost of new buildings in 1887 was $160,000, with a popula tion of 3,500. The electric light system has been introduced. The water power furnished by the Albany and Santiam Water, ditch, or canal com pany, with a capacity of 20,000 running feet per minute, invites industries of every kind depending upon geared machinery.
Roseburg in Douglas county took a fresh impetus from the completion of the Oregon and California R. R. The county of Douglas, with a popu lation of 14,000 and a large area, shipped in the year ending August, 1887, 269 tons of wool, 5,073 tons of wheat, 436 tons of oats and other grains, 288 tons of flour, 8 tons of green fruit, 61 tons of dried fruit. This being done with no other outlet than via Portland, was an indication of what might be looked for on the opening of the country south of Roseburg. \n ​
The administration of Governor Moody was a fair and careful one, marked by no original abuses, although it failed to correct, as it was hoped it would have done, the swamp-land policy, by which the state had been robbed of a handsome dower. The legisla ture of 1878 had endeavored to correct the evil grow ing out of the legislation of 1870, but Governor Thayer had so construed the new law as to render it of no effect in amending the abuses complained of; and Governor Moody had not interfered with the existing practices of the swamp-land board. Here, then, was a real point of attack upon a past adminis tration, when a democratic governor was elected in 1886. 2] Governor Sylvester Pennoyer was quite will ing, and also quite right to make it, and doubtless enjoyed the electrifying effect of his message to con gress, in which he presented a list of swamp-land certificates aggregating 564,969 acres, on which $142,846 had been unlawfully paid, and suggested that while settlers should be protected in possession of a legal amount legally purchased, the money, which under a " misapprehension had come into the treasury from other persons, should be returned to them ; and "the state domain parcelled out, as was the intent and letter of the law, to actual settlers in small quantities." Further, the new board of school- land commissioners 2 ! prepared a bill, which embodied
20 1 have already given an account of the manner in which the law of 1870 was passed, and with what motive. The legislature of 1878 had en acted that all applications for the purchase of these lands from the state which had not been regularly made, or being regularly made the 20 per cent required by law had not been paid before Jan. 17, 1879, should be void and of no effect. But it appeared that the board, consisting of the governor, secretary and treasurer, had issued deeds and certificates to lands which had not been formally approved to the state by the secretary of the interior, and to which, consequently, it had no show of title. It had issued deeds and certificates for amounts in excess of 320 acres all that by law could be sold to one purchaser selling unsurveyed and unmapped lands in bodies as large as 50,000, 60,000, or 133,000 acres, and otherwise encouraging land-grabbing.
21 The secretary of state under Gov. Moody was R. P. Earhart; and the treasurer Edward Hirsch. They constituted with the governor the board land commissioners.
2 The new board consisted of Governor Pennoyer, secretary of state, George W. McBride, and Edward Hirsch, who had been treasurer through \n\n ​the views of the governor, and presented it to the legislature with a recommendation that it.or something
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very like it, should be enacted into a law. It declared void all certificates of sale made in defiance of the law of 1878, but provided that actual settlers on 320 acres or less should be allowed to perfect title without reclaiming the land, upon payment of the remaining 80 per cent before January 1, 1879. Upon the sur render of void certificates the amount paid thereon should be refunded ; and a special tax of one mill on a dollar of all taxable property in the state should be levied, and the proceeds applied to the payment of outstanding warrants made payable by the act. Suit should be brought to set aside any deed issued by the board upon fraudulent representation. The reclama tion requirement of the law of 1870 was dispensed with, and any legal applicant who had complied with the provisions of that act, including the 20 per cent of the purchase price, prior to January 1879, should be entitled to a deed to not more than 640 acres, if paid for before 1889. All swamp and overflowed lands reverting to the state under the provisions of the act should be sold as provided by the act of 1878; but only to actual settlers, and not exceeding 320 acres to one person, Any settler who had purchased from the holder of a void certificate should be en titled to receive the amount of money paid by him to the original holder, which should be deducted from the amount repaid on the surrender of the illegal cer tificate. Such an example of justice had not sur prised the people of Oregon since the days of its founders. According to the report of the board for 1887 the school fund will save nearly, if not quite, a million dollars by the rescue of these lands from fraud ulent claimants,
several previous terras. McBride was a republican and had been speaker of the house in 1885. He was the younger son of James McBride the pioneer, and brother of James McBride of Wis., John R. McBride of Utah, and Thomas McBride, attorney of the 4th judicial district of Or. An up right and talented young ​man. \n
The legislature of 1887 proposed these amendments to the people, to be voted upon at a special election : First, a prohibitory liquor law ; second, to allow the legislature to fix the salaries of state officers; third, to change the time of holding the general elections from J ane to November. All failed of adoption. J. H. Mitchell was again chosen United States senator.
The free trade issue in 1888 caused the state to return a large republican majority, 23 arid again gave to that party the choice of aUnited States senator to suc ceed Dolph. Herman was elected congressman for a third term. The financial condition of the state was ex cellent, the total bonded debt being less than $2,000, and outstanding warrants not exceeding $54,000.
Thus was built up, within the memory of living men, a state complete in all its parts, where, when they entered the wilderness, the savage and the fur- hunter alone disturbed the awful solitudes. Whom the savage then spared, king death remembered, beck oning more and more frequently as time went on to the busy toilers, who in silence crossed over Jordan in answer to the undeniable command, and rested from
their labors."
I
23 The democrats elected only 25 out of the 90 members of the legislature. The republican majority wag about 7,000.
24 1 find in the archives of the Pioneer association for 1887 mention of the death of the following persons, mo.st of whose names are recorded in the immi grant lists of the first vol. of my History of Oregon: Capt. William Shaw (immigrant of 1844) died at Howell prairie, 20th January, 1887. Capt. Charles Holman (arrived 1852) died at Portland 3d July, 1886; Prof. L. J. Powell (1847) died at Seattle 17th August, 1887; David Powell (1847) died near East Portland 8th April, 1887; Peter Scholl (1847) died near Hillsboro in November, 1872; Mrs Lucinda Spencer, (1847) daughter of Thomas and Martha Cox, died 30th of March, 1888; Mrs Sarah Fairbanks King, (1852) who was Mrs George Olds when she came to Oregon, died 19th January, 1887; Solomon Howard Smith, of the Wyeth party of 1832, died on Clatsop plains in 1874, at the age of 65 years; he was born December 26, 1809 at Lebanon, N. H.; Alvin T. Smith (1840) died in 1887 at Forest Grove; he was one of the independent missionaries, and was born in Branford, Conn., Nov. 17, 1802, his first wife being Abigail Raymond, who died in 1855^ when he returned to Conn., and married Miss Jane Averill of Branford, who survived him; Mrs Mary E. Frazer, nee Evans, born in Newburyport, Miss., Dec. 13, 1816, who married Thomas Frazer, and came to Oregon in 1853, died in Portland 21st April, 1884.
In 1886 there died of Oregon s pioneers the following: Jan. 21st, Mrs Clara B. Duniway Stearns, born in Oregon, wife of D. H. Stearns, and only ​\n
It is a pleasure to the historian, who, by closely following the stream of events, has identified himself with the characters in his work, to observe with what unfailing justice time makes all things even. At the annual meeting of the Oregon Pioneer association at
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Portland, in 1887, Matthew P. Deady, acting as speaker for the city, presented to the association a life-size portrait of John McLoaghlin, which was afterward hung in the state capitol, u where," said the speaker, " you may look at it and show it to your children, and they to their chileren, and say : * This
daughter of Mrs Abigail Scott Duniway, at Portland; George F. Treban Jan. 21st at Portland; Mrs M. J. Saylor Jan 24th at McMinnville; Simeon Alber (1853) at McMinnville Jan. 24; Frank Hedges at Oregon city Feb. 22d; Samuel A. Moreland at Portland March 19th; W. McMillan at East Portland April 26th; Mrs J. A. Cornwall (1846) at Eugene May 2d; Elijah Williams at East Portland May 16th; James Johns, founder of the town of St Johns, May 28th; Gen. John E. Ross at East Portland June 14th; W. W. Buck (1844) at Oregon city June 19; Mrs James M. Stott at East Portland June 26th; Mrs Susan A. Tartar in Polk co. June 28th; Mrs Sarah Vaii- denyn in Lane co. June 28th; Captain Seth Pope in Columbia co. July 23d; Mrs Mary Stevens Ellsworth (1852) at Cove, in Union co., July 24th; Rev. E. R. Geary at Eugene city Sept. 2d; W. H. Bennett (1845) at Rockford, W. T., Sept. 12th; Robert E. Pittock at Canoiisburg, Pa.. Sept 16th; Samuel M. Smith at Portland Oct. 25th; L. J. C. Duncan, Jackson co. Nov. 7th; Whiting G. West (1846) Nov. 8th; James Thompson at Salem Nov. 8th; Prof. Newell at Philometh college, Nov. 10th; Mrs Mary Olney Brown, at Olympia Nov. 17th; A. Walts at Portland Dec. 17th; Jacob Hoover (1844) at his home near Hillsboro , Dec. 19th.
In 1887: Ex.-Gov. Addison C. Gibbs died in London, Eng., early in Jan.; his funeral occurred July 9th at Portland; Mrs D. M. Moss of Oregon city a pioneer of 1843, d. Jan. 23d; George W. Elmer, Portland, Jan. 20th; Mrs W. T. Newby (1844), Jan. 28th; Mrs A. N. King (1845), fan. 30th; James Brown (1843), Feb. 8th, at Wooclburn; H. M. Humphrey (1852), near Port land, Feb. 3d; Mrs Ellen Daley, at East Portland, Feb. 3d; Mrs Col W. L. White (1850), at Portland, Feb. 20th; Mrs William Mason of Monmouth, and Mrs Wallace of Linn co., Feb. 21st; John G. Baker at McMinnville, March 4th; Judge William Strong (1849), at Portland, April 16th; Mrs James B. Stephens (1844), at East Portland, April 27th; Benjamin Strang, at Astoria, May 7th; N. D. Gilliam (1844), at Mount Tabor, May 15th; M. Tidd, in Yamhill co., May 22d; Levi Knott, at Denver, Col., May 29th; E. Norton and J. Schenerer, Portland, June 7th; Mrs Frances 0. Adams (1845), wife of W. L. Adams, June 23d; Robert Pentland, at Scio, June 5th; Dr Cabannis, of Modoc war fame, at Astoria, July 22d; Dr R. B. Wilson, at Portland, August 6th; Prof. L. J. Powell, long a teacher in Or., at Seattle, Aug. 17th; Rev. E. R. Geary, Sept. 2, 1886; Mrs J. H. Wilbur, at Walla Walla, Oct. 2d; Mrs Joseph Imbire, at The Dalles, Oct. 23d; Rev. J. H. Wilbur, at Walla Walla, Oct. 28th.
On the 10th of Feb., 1888, Dr W. H. Watkins, at Portland; on the 23d of April died Hon. Jesse Applegate. Both these men were members of the convention which formed the state constitution. Thus the makers pass away, but their work remains. Rev. Wiliiam Roberts died July 2, 1888, at Dayton. \n ​is the old doctor; the good doctor; Dr John McLoughlin.'" And this sentiment was applauded by the very men who had given the "good old doctor many a heart-ache along in the forties. "But," concluded Judge Deady, " the political strife and religious bigotry which cast a cloud over his latter days have passed away, and his memory and figure have risen from the mist and smoke of controversy, and he stands out to-day in bold relief, as the first man in the history of this country the pioneer of pioneers!
I cannot close this volume without brief biographies of the following men:
Henry Winslow Corbett, a native of Westborough, Massachusetts, where he was born on the 18th of February, 1827, is of English descent, his ancestry being traced back to the days of William the Conqueror, when the name of Roger Corbett is found among the list of those who won fame and possessions as a military leader. The youngest of eight children, after receiving a public school and academy education, he began life in the dry goods business in New York city, proceeding thence in 1851 to Portland, where he was extremely successful in his ventures, being now the oldest merchant in Portland, and perhaps in Oregon. He is, moreover, largely interested in banking, being connected with the First National bank almost from its inception, and now its vice-president. He was also appointed president of the board of trade, of the boys and girls aid society, and other charitable associations, and of a company organized to complete a grand hotel, to be second only in size to the Palace hotel in San Francisco. On the formation of the republican party in Oregon, Corbett became one of its leaders. He was chosen delegate to the Chicago convention of 1860, and in 1866 was elected to the United States senate, where he won repute by his practical knowledge of financial affairs, his able arguments on the resumption of specie payments, and the funding of the national debt, and his resolute opposition to all measures that savored of bad faith or repudiation. As a statesman he is noted for his boldness, eloquence, and integrity of purpose; as a business man for his ability and enterprise; and as a citizen for his many deeds of charity. In 1853 he was married to Miss Caroline E. Jagger, who died twelve years later, leaving two sons, of whom only the elder, Henry J. Corbett, survives. The latter has already made his mark in life, following in the footsteps of his father, to whom he will prove a most worthy successor.
William S. Ladd was a native of Vermont, born October 10, 1826, educated in New Hampshire, working on the farm winters. He came to Oregon in 1851, and engaged in the mercantile business, later becoming a banker. He accummulated a large fortune, and has ever been one of Oregon's foremost men. His benefactions have been many and liberal, one tenth of his income being devoted to charity. He has assisted both in the city of Portland, where he resides, and throughout the whole north-west, in building churches and schools. He endowed a chair of practical theology in San Francisco in 1886 with $50,000. He has given several scholarships to the Willamette university, and assisted many young men to start in business, In 1854 he married Caroline A. Elliott of New Hampshire, who bore him seven children, five of whom were living in 1888, William M., Charles E., Helen K., Caroline A., and John W. Ladd. The eldest son, William M. Ladd, is in every respect the worthy son of his father.
C. H. Lewis was born December 22, 1826, at Cranbury, New Jersey, where he attended school, working sometimes on a farm. In 1846 he entered ​a store in New York city, where he became proficient in mercantile affairs, and in 1851 came to Portland, where he engaged in business, the house of Allen and Lewis rising into foremost prominence. Mrs Lewis, the daughter of John H. Couch, is the mother of eleven children, all born in Portland. Mr Lewis attends closely to his business, and no man in the community stands in higher esteem.
Henry Failing was born in New York on the 17th of January, 1834. After a good grammar-school education, he entered a mercantile house, where he acquired proficiency in first-class business routine. Arriving in Oregon in 1851, he engaged in business, first in connection with his father, Josiah Failing, and later with H. W. Corbett. The firm rose to prominence, being the largest hardware dealers in the north-west. Failing and Corbett in 1809 took control of the First National Bank, the former being made president. Mr Failing has always been a prominent citizen, a friend of edu cation, and three times mayor. In 1858 he married Emily P. Corbett, sister of Senator Corbett. Twelve years later Mrs Failing died of consumption, leaving three charming daughters. Mr Failing is a citizen of whom Oregon may well be proud.
Worthy of mention among the lawyers and statesmen of Oregon is Joseph Simon, of the well known Portland law firm of Dolph, Bellinger, Mallory, and Simon. A German by birth, and of Jewish parentage, he came to Portland when six years of age, and at thirteen had completed his education, so far, at least, as his school-days were concerned. After assist ing his father for several years in the management of his store, he studied law, and in 1872 was admitted to practice, soon winning his way by dint of ability and hard work to the foremost rank in his profession. In 1878 he was appointed secretary of the republican state central committee, of which in 1880, and again in 1884 and 1886, he was appointed chairman, and in the two first years, and also in 1888, was elected to the state senate. While a member of that body he introduced and succeeded in passing many useful measures, among them being a bill authorizing a paid fire department, a mechanics lien law, a registration law, and one placing the control of the police system in the hands of a board of commissioners.
Royal K. Warren was born in Steuben co., N. Y. , in 1840, and educated in that state, coming to Oregon in 1863. He entered upon teaching as aprofes- sion in Clatsop co., whence he removed to Portland in 1865, teaching in the Harrison st grammar school until 1871, when he was called to the presidency of the Albany college, which position he retained nine years. He then re turned to Portland, where he was principal of the North school for one year, from which he was removed to the high school.
J. W. Brazee, born in Schoharie co., N. Y., in 1827, was educated for a civil engineer and draughtsman, and also learned the trades of carpentry and masonry. Thus equipped, he came to Cal. in 1850 in a sailing vessel. He worked at his trades, and among other buildings, erected the episcopal church on Powell street. He also engaged in mining and other industries, and removed to Or. in 1858. Here his engineering knowledge was called into use, and he located the trail between Fort Vancouver, W. T., and Fort Simcoe, east of the Cascades, notwithstanding that McClellan had reported that a pack-trail between these points was impracticable. The work was accomplished in 30 days at a cost of $4,000, and the trail immediately used for transporting government freight between these posts. His next work was that of constructing a railroad portage around the cascades of the Columbia on the Oregon side for J. S. Ruckle, the first railroad built in Ore gon, and completed in 1862, when the locomotive pony was put upon the track, and run by Theo. A. Goffe. The steamboats Idaho and Carrie Ladd were built by him in 1859 and 1860; and in 1862 took charge of the construction of the railroad portage on the Washington side, being also placed in charge of the Dalles and Celilo railroad the following year; these roads remaining under his superintendence until 1879, when the 0. S. N. company transferred them to Villard. He located the 0. C. R. R. (west ​side) for 20 miles, in 1868; located and surveyed the Locks at Oregon City, and estimated the cost of construction more nearly than any one else. In March 1881 he organized the Oregon Boot, Shoe, and Leather company, which received the gold medal for superior work at the Portland Mechanics fair; and was one of the organizers and directors of the Portland Savings Bank of which he was for several years vice-president. Mr Brazee resided in Skamania co., Washington, during all these busy years, and represented his district in the territorial legislature from 1864 to 1875, being at the same time school superintendent.
John Wilson, born in Ireland in 1826, came to Oregon from California in the winter of 1849 on the bark Arm Smith, George H. Flanders, master. His first work in this state was in a saw-mill at the now abandoned site of Milton on Scappoose bay, near St Helen, where he earned $4 per day and board. He remained here until the spring of 1851, when, not being well, he went to the Tualatin plains for a season, where he recovered and re turned to Milton, living there and at St Helen until 1853, when he settled in Portland in the employ of Thos H. Dwyer of the Oregonian as book-keeper and collector. A year later he entered the employ of Allen and Lewis, wholesale merchants, where he had an experience worth relating. He had been suffering much from ague and fever for two years. The first day's work with Allen and Lewis was very severe for a sick man, handling heavy freight, which was being unloaded from a ship, coffee-bags weighing 250 lbs., etc.; but the copious perspiration which resulted from his exertions carried off the ague, which never afterward returned. In 1856 he purchased a general merchandise business on Front street, and took partners. In 1858 the firm erected the first store (a brick one) on First street. After several changes, he was finally established, 1870, alone in a store erected by himself on Third street, between Morrison and Washington. In 1872 he built two more stores on that street, moving into one of them, where he remained until 1878. In 1880 he was elected school director of dist No. 1., which position he still fills. His policy in school matters has been liberal and elevating, After retiring from business he began to indulge a taste for literature and books, making himself the owner of a large collection of valuable and rare publications.
Martin Strong Burrell was born in Sheffield, Ohio, in 1834, where he re sided until 1856, when he came to Cal. in search of health, wintering in the Santa Cruz mountains. In March 1857 he joined Knapp & Co., agricultural implement dealers, becoming associated with them in business, and remaining in Portland to the time of his death, which occurred about 1883. His wife was Rosa Frazier, a native of Mass. Mr Burrell was an excellent citizen, and the family an exemplary one.
* ↑ I have already referred to the O. R. & N. co.'s origin and management in 1879–83, but reference to the methods employed by Villard will not be out of place here. He gained an introduction to Oregon through being the financial agent of the German bond-holders of the Or. and Cal. R. R., and a year afterward was made president of this road and the Oregon Steamship co., of which Holladay had been president, through the action of the bond holders in dispossessing Holladay in 1875. In 1872 a controlling interest in the Oregon Steam Navigation co., on the Columbia river, had been sold to the Northern Pacific R. R. co., and was largely hypothecated for loans, or on the failure of Jay Cooke & Co., divided among the creditors as assets. This stock was gathered up in 1879 wherever it could be obtained, at a price much below its real value.
* ↑ The obstructing influence in the bridge matter was the N. P. co., whose consent was obtained only after the return to power of Villard.
* ↑ Suits of foreclosure had been entered in the U. S. circuit court at Portland, Deady, judge, which were dismissed June 4, 1888, on petition of the S. P. co.
* ↑ It was necessary to pass a special act giving authority to the O. R. & N. to make the lease. The legislature after much argument passed it; it was not signed by Gov. Pennoyer, but became a law without his signature. According to the corporation laws of Oregon, the lease of any railway to a parallel or competing line is prohibited. But a good deal of the opposition to the lease came from the Oregon Pacific, or Yaquina, R. R., which desired as much territory as it could by any means secure in eastern Oregon, and feared so strong a competitor as the U. P. R. R.
* ↑ That is on the existing or future feeders of the N. P. between Pend d'Oreille lake and Snake river, and option was allowed to use either route to tide—water via Portland or Tacoma; but unless specially consigned other wise, this traffic should take the Oregon route.
* ↑ It is not clear to me what was Villard's motive for wishing to join in the U. P.'s lease. The motive of that company, which the Central Pacific had kept out of California, in desiring to come to the Pacific coast is easy to comprehend. The O. R. & N. erred, in my judgment, in yielding the control of the best railroad property on the northwest coast to a company with the standing of the U. P. The Southern Pacific will show its hand in competition soon or late, and will build more feeders than the U. P., while the N. P., on the other side, will make the most of its reserved rights, thus narrowing down the territory of the leased road.
* ↑ The first freight train to enter Albany was on Jan. 13, 1887.
* ↑ Twenty passenger trains arrived and departed daily, exclusive of suburban trains. Six lines had their terminus there. Over 30 freight trains arrived and departed a great change from the times of 1883.
* ↑ The incorporators were Ellis G. Hughes, W. F. Creitz, T. Patterson, J. P. O. Lownsdale, L. M. Parrish, and L. D. Brown. The avowed object of the Real Estate Exchange is to secure a responsible medium of exchange of equal benefit to buyer and seller, to equalize commissions, to foster the growth of the state, encourage manufactures, and invite capital and immigration. The list of stock-holders is as follows: L. F. Grover, Ellis G. Hughes, A. W. Oliver, Eugene D. White, E. J. Haight, Frank E. Hart. John Kiernan, Geo. Marshall, A. B. Manley, Robert Bell, J. W. Cook, Philo Holbrook, M. B. Rankin, H. C. Smithson, A. E. Borthwick, L. M. Cox, Geo. Woodward, John Angel, H. D. Graden, J. F. Buchanan, Fred. K. Arnold, E. W. Cornell, L. M. Parrish, Geo. E. Watkins, H. B. Oatman, R. B. Curry, J. L. Atkinson, D. W. Wakefield, A. W. Lambert, W. F. Crietz, T. Patter son, W. A. Daly, T. A. Daly, J. Fred. Clarke, Geo. Knight, Geo. P. Lent, A. J. Young, Van B. De Lashmutt, B. F. Clayton, J. P. O. Lownsdale, P. W. Gillette, David Goodsell, H. D. Chapman, Ward S. Stevens, J. W. Ogilbee, C. M. Wiberg, S. B. Riggen, R. H. Thompson, Geo. L. Story, Win M. Killingworth, W. K. Smith, S. M. Barr, E. E. Lang, L. D. Brown, James E. Davis, Ed. Croft, Benj. I. Cohen, J. W. Kern, J. G. Warner, E. M. Sargent, Sherman D. Brown, W. L. Wallace, E. Oldendorff, John M. Cress, Mert E. Dimmick, D. H. Stearns, W. G. Telfer, Edward G. Harvey, L. L. Hawkins, D. P. Thompson, Frank Dekum, Dudley Evans, E. D. McKee, James Steel, T. A. Davis, A. H. Johnson, John McCracken, Donald Macleay, Ed. S. Kearney, C. A. Dolph, J. N Dolph, Henry Failing, N. L. Pittock, R. M. Demeal, A. L. Maxwell, Preston C. Smith, C. J. McDougal, James K. Kelly, John H. Mitchell, W. A. Jones, C. W. Roby, Wm P. Lord, A. N. Hamilton, J. A. Strowbridge, John Gates 95 members. Two are U. S. senators, two ex U. S. senators, 12 are capitalists and bankers, one judge of the sup. ct, one mayor of Portland, one postmaster of Portland, 2 newspaper men, one a major in the U. S. army, 4 attorney s-at-law, 8 merchants, one manager of Wells, Fargo & Co. s express, one R. R. agent, and the remain der brokers and real estate dealers, 40 of whom are the holders of seats in the exchange. Rooms have been taken for the present at the corner of Stark and Second sts. The admission fee was at first $50, but was soon increased to 8100. No more than 100 seats will be sold, and the quarterly dues are fixed at 815.
* ↑ Albina, as I have otherwheres shown, was founded by Edward Russell, but the property was sold in 1879 to J. B. Montgomery before the N. P.R.R. co. selected the site for its terminal works. This gave it importance, as the machine shops of the Terminal co., N. P., the O. R. & N., and the O. & C. cos were located there, to which are now added those of the S. P. R. R., making in all quite a village of substantial brick buildings with roof 3 of slate in the railroad yards. Montgomery dock has an area of 200x500 feet, and has had as much as 600,000 bushels of wheat stored in it at one time. In 1887 42,000 tons were shipped through it. The Columbia River Lumber and Manufacturing co. keeps an extensive lumber yard at Albina. The owners are J. B. Montgomery and Wm M. Colwell. All these large enterprises, together with the iron works, employ many laborers, who find pleasant homes in Albina.
* ↑ S. G. Reed, Wm M. Ladd, F. C. Smith, C. E. Smith, J. F. Watson, the Or. Transcontinental co., and some eastern capitalists constituted the company.
* ↑ The O. R. & N. co. held formerly all but a few shares of the Willamette Transportation and Locks co. s stock, which latter company owned the locks, canal, basin, and warehouse on the east side of the falls, with all the water-power of the falls, and the land adjoining on both sides. An Oregon City co. owned 750 shares of the land on the west side, including that not owned by the W. T. & L. co. The new organization owns all of the land, property, stocks, and water-power, purchasing the 0. R. & N. co. s shares and all its interest. It proposes to give the necessary land on the west side free, with water-power for 10 years rent free, to any persons who will build and operate manufactures. It is also proposed to construct a suspension toll-bridge across the Willamette, provided the proper authorities do not build a free bridge, as they may do. The 0. R. & N. would not sell any part of its holding without selling all, therefore the new company were forced to purchase the locks, which gave them additional facilities for the u.se of the water-power. The state has, however, by law the right and option to buy the locks on the 1st of January, 1893, at their then value, and it is feared that this may delay the use of the power until this option is disposed of by legislation. The land and power were pooled on equal terms without reference to value, and the locks were estimated at $400,000. This is paid by a mortgage on the whole property running 12 years, bearing interest for 5 years at 4 per cent, and for the next 7 years at 5 per cent. The pres't of the co, is E. L. Eastham of Oregon City.
* ↑ The Coeur d'Alene furnishes galena-silver ores. The Sierra Nevada mine, yielding ore consisting of galena and carbonates, is said to average $94.79 in lead and silver. A block of galena weighing 760 pounds assayed 69 per cent lead, and $1 10 in silver per ton. Some of the specimens are of rare beauty, the silver being in the form of wire intermingled with crystals of carbonate, arranged upon a back ground of a dark metallic oxide, and appearing like jewels in a velvet lined case. Some of the prominent mines are the Bunker Hill, Sullivan, the Tyler, the Ore-or-no-go, and the Tiger.
* ↑ The mineral resources of the several counties are: Baker: gold in quartz and placers, silver in lodes, copper, coal, nickel ore, cinnabar, building stone, limestone and marble. Benton: coal, building stone, gold in beach sand, iron. Clackamas: iron ore and ochres, gold in quartz, copper, galena, coal, building stone. Clatsop: coal, potter's clay, iron ore, jet. Columbia: iron ore, coal, manganese ore, salt springs. Coos: coal, gold in beach sand, streams, and quartz, platinum, iridosmine, brick clay, chrome iron, magnetic sands. Crook: gold in placers. Curry: iron ore, gold in river beds and beach sands, platinum, iridosmine, chrome iron, borate of lime, building stone, silver and gold (doubtful). Douglas: gold in lodes and placers, nickel ores, quicksilver, copper, native and in ore, coal, salt springs, chrome iron, platinum, iridosmine, natural cement, building stone. Gilliam: coal. Grant: gold in lodes and placers, silver in lodes, coal, iron. Jackson: gold in lodes and placers, quicksilver, iron, graphite, mineral waters, coal, limestone, infusorial earth, building stone. Josephine: gold in lodes and placers, copper ores, limestone and marble. Klamath: mineral waters. Lake: mineral waters. Lane: gold in quartz and placers, zinc ores. Linn: gold in quartz and placers, copper, galena, zinc blende. Malheur: nitrate beds, alkaline salts. Marion: gold and silver in quartz, limestone, bog iron ore. Morrow:— Mutlnomah: iron ore, building stone. Polk: building stone, salt springs, limestone, mineral waters, iron pyrites. Tillamook: gold in beach sands, coal, rock salt, iron pyrites, building stone. Umatilla: gold in lodes and placers, coal, iron. Union: gold in lodes and placers, silver in lodes, hersite, ochre. Wallowa: gold in lodes, silver, copper, building stones. Wasco: mineral waters. Yamhill: mineral springs, iron pyrites. Id., Jan. 2, 1888. This in part only.
* ↑ Dolph has been at some pains to prepare a bill for expending $126.000,000 in coast defences, according to the recommendation of a commission appointed to report upon the subject. It appropriates 27,000,000 for the defence of San Francisco harbor; $2,519,000 for the defence of the mouth of the Columbia; and $504,000 to the harbor of San Diego.
* ↑ George M. Miller, of Eugene, is the founder of Florence, although David Morse Jr, of Empire City, made an addition to the town. Lots are worth from $25 to $50 and $100. The Florence Canning co. employs 80 men with 40 boats, besides 45 Chinese. The Lone Star Packing co. employ 32 men, 16 boats, and 35 Chinese. The Elmore Packing co. employs 80 men, 40 boats, and 65 Chinese. The three establishments put up 1,700 cases daily.
* ↑ The name of Joseph is given in remembrance of the Nez Perce chief of that name, who formerly made his home in this valley, and young Joseph, his son, who led his band in the war of 1877. The first commissioners of Wallowa co. were James McMasterton and J. A. Runhed. The first commissioners of Morrow were William Douglas and A. Rood.
* ↑ A portion of the wheat crop of Washington was carried to Tacoma via the Cascade branch in 1887.