# Portland, Oregon: Its History and Builders/Volume 1/Chapter 18

CHAPTER XVIII.
1851 — 1910.
The City Government — The Charters — The Succession of Mayors — The Present Organization — The Public Utilities — Development of the City.
The city of Portland was incorporated in the year 1851, with a charter pro- viding a city government composed of a mayor, recorder, treasurer and marshal, and a council of nine members. But for the years 1851 and 1852, there were only five councilmen elected.
The first officers of the city were: Mayor, Hugh D. O'Bryant; recorder, W, S. Caldwell ; councilmen, Robert Thompson, Shubrick Norris, George A. Barnes, Thomas G. Robinson and L. B. Hastings.
In November, 1852, a new election was held at which S. B. Marye was elected mayor, C. B. Pillow recorder, with Councilmen Shubrick Norris, Thomas Pritch- ard, Josiah Failing, P. A. Marquam and A. P. Dennison.
And not until the election in 1853 were all the offices filled, and the city gov- ernment fully organized. In that year Josiah Failing was elected mayor; A. C. Bonnell recorder, S. S. Slater assessor, W. H. Barnhart treasurer, William Grooms, marshal; with Robert Thompson, W. S. Ladd, John H. Couch, W. P. Abrams, R. N. McLaren, R. N. Field, Charles B. Pillow, H. W. Davis and Jonas Williams for councilmen.
The mayors of the city after that were: W. S. Ladd, 1854; George W. Vaughn, 1855; James O'Neill, 1856 and 1857; L. M. Starr, 1858; S. J. McCor- mick, 1859; George C. Robbins, i860; J. M. Breck, 1861 ; W. H. Farrar, 1862 and 1863, David Logan, for 1863 and 4, Henry Failing for 1864 and 5, and 1865 and 6, Thos. J. Holmes, for 1866 and 7, Dr. J. A. Chapman, for 1867 and 8, Hamilton Boyd for 1868 and 9, Bernard Goldsmith for 1869 and 70, and for 1870 and 71, Philip Wasserman for 1871, 72 and 3, Henry Failing for 1873 and 4, and 5, Dr. J. A. Chapman for 1875 and 6 and for 1876 and 7, W. S. Newberry for 1877 and 8, and for 1878 and 9, D. P. Thompson for 1879 and 80, and for 1880 and 81, and 1881 and 82 ; Dr. J. A. Chapman for 1882 and 3 and 1883 and 4, and for 1884 and 5 ; John Gates for 1885 and 6 and for 1886 and 7, and for 1887 and 8, and died in office; Van B. De Lashmutt 1888 and 9, W. S. Mason, 1889 and 90, George P. Frank, 1894 first mayor in new city hall. Sylvester Pennoyer, 1896, W. S. Mason, 1898 and died in office, and W. A. Story, a member of the council, was elected to fill out Mason's term, and for 1900 Harry S. Rowe was elected mayor, George H. Williams for 1902, Dr. Hary Lane for 1902 to 1905, Joseph Simon the present incumbent elected in 1909.
Since the city was first incorporated, the charter has been amended nearly every session of the legislature since i860, and no less than five entirely new ​charters enacted and put in operation. Under existing laws, ordinances can be proposed by the electors of the city, and if adopted by a majority of the voters at the city election they become an integral part of the ordinances of the city to be enforced as much as if passed by the city council.
Following, or rather yielding, to the inseparable self-interest of party government, the civil service of Portland, and of all cities has become a complex affair. That which should be a straight business proposition of securing to the city as much as practicable in faithful service for the contributions of the taxpayers, has been elaborated into an unwieldy machine, that wastes time, labor and money in endless proceedings which accomplish little for the welfare of the city. To' combat the endless combination of selfish interests, and protect the public treasury from the peculations of the dishonest purveyors to public service and public improvements, official responsibility has been unwisely distributed through so many independent if not antagonistic representatives of municipal authority and action, that it has become exceedingly difficult to place the blame of neglect or wrong doing upon any agent of the city.
The city of Portland manifests its hfe, growth and government through an elective council of fifteen members ; one from each of the ten separate wards of the city, and five from the city at large. This council is presided over by the mayor of the city, who segregates the council into twelve separate committees.
The executive arm of the city is represented by the mayor and seventy-two subordinate officers, of which the auditor, treasurer and city attorney are principal, and have a limited jurisdiction independent of the mayor. The city engineer in charge of the development work of streets, sewers, bridges and other constructions, is an appointee of the mayor, but must discharge his duties in accordance with limitations and obligations of the charter and ordinances and the acts and directions of the council and committee on streets and sewers.
The executive is farther aided, advised or restrained, as the case may be, by the executive board, which is an additional contrivance of the last adopted charter added to the government of the city to keep the council from going wrong. This executive board composed of ten citizens appointed by the mayor, and over whose deliberations the mayor acts as chairman, divided up into ten committees and to which any business of the council and acts of the council may be directly or indirectly referred for approval and execution.
In addition to these legislative and executive bodies, there is a board of health composed of three physicians and the chief of police; a park board of four citizens; a water board of three citizens ; and a civil service commission; and of these additional boards, all appointed by the mayor, the mayor himself acts as a member and presiding officer.
In practical operation, it results in inattention to business, or such careless attention to the city business that it is a hit or miss affair, if the right thing is ordered in any particular case. The councilmen are generally chosen on account of their local popularity in the ward to which they belong without the slightest consideration for their qualifications for the business in hand. And even if qualified and desirous of promoting the public welfare, they are all engaged in their own private business and give only an incidental and very inconsiderable attention to the public business. And being the creatures of local prejudices or favoritism, they give ear to every wind of criticism or opposition in order to please the electorate that conferred the "honor" upon them. There is, therefore, no such careful attention to the business of the city, or independent action in office as could be secured by an independent commission devoting its whole time to the city business and carefully considering every proposition from the same standpoint of the best interests of the city as would be taken by the manager of a railroad, bank, or factory seeking to promote the interests of the stockholders.
There is, therefore, in the city government a very much divided responsibility, so that it is a matter of great difficulty in locating the blame for unsatisfactory service in the administration of the city business. If the mayor was as​sisted by a board of five men, each in charge of a separate department of the city service, similar to the organization of a railroad company or large mercantile or manufacturing company, and each held responsible for the conduct of the business of his own department, then responsibility could be attached to the person rightly subject to praise or blame.
It has long been the most agreeable delusion of the American people that "the people rule." Happily unconscious that instead of ruling "they are ruled." In the town meetings of the colonies before the American revolution, the people did rule very much in their local affairs, and for a hundred years afterward. In Oregon the provisional government was the perfect manifestation of the rule of the people; and which was largely maintained in the same spirit to the letter of the law down to the period when office holding came to be a remunerative industry. Then commenced that scheming of selfish politicians which has destroyed all political parties and made public plunder the sole object of factional rule.
To check or abolish this unpatriotic use of political power, and protect tax- payers and property holders from the corrupt schemes of contractors and office holders, the commission form of government for municipalities has been de- vised, and has been adopted at Galveston, Texas. Des Moines, Iowa, and other places, and is now, for the first time in Oregon, adopted by the people of Baker City, in Baker county. The experiment at Baker City will be watched with great interest.
DEPARTMENT STATISTICS--WATER WORKS.
The pure mountain water supplied to the city and the management of the water works has been the pride and boast of the city. After a full investigation of all the facts, and comprehensive knowledge of the cities of the world, an eminent engineer has asserted that Portland, Oregon, has the best water supply—quality and quantity considered — of all the cities in the world, with one single exception in Scotland.
The first organized attempt to furnish the city with a public water supply is believed to have been in 1857, when the common council granted to Stephen Coffin, Robert Pentland and Jacob Cline a franchise and permission to lay mains and pipes in the streets ; and the construction of Portland's pioneer water works was commenced soon thereafter.
The first supply of water was obtained from Caruthers creek, a dam being built in the canyon west of Seventh street. The first pipes used consisted of round fir logs with a hole 2^ inches in diameter bored through from end to end. These logs were bored by hand. Somewhat similar wooden pipes were removed from First street near Pine several years ago, after having been in the ground over forty years.
The supply from Caruthers creek soon proving inadequate, a small steam pump was established at a spring on the river bank near the foot of Mill street. In 1861, Coffin, Pentland and Chne sold their plant and franchises to H. C. Leonard and John Green, who proceeded to lay about 5,000 feet of new pipe made of redwood logs brought here from California. In October, 1862, Messrs. Leonard and Green incorporated what has since been known as the Portland Water Company, with a capital stock of $50,000. Soon after the purchase of the works the new company began the construction of a pipe line from Balch Creek near Willamette Heights. This pipe line terminated in a small reservoir at Fourth and Market streets.
In a few years it became apparent that the supply from Caruthers and Balch creeks would soon be inadequate to the needs of the city, and in 1868 the construction of a pumping station was begun on the river bank at the foot of Lincoln street and completed the following year. It was about this time that the original reservoirs at Seventh and Lincoln streets was built, and the one at
BUILDING BULL RUN WATER PIPE
street lines. The stones used in this wall, which is still standing, came from the building formerly used as a state penitentiary and now occupied as a ma- chine shop by the Smith Bros, and Watson Iron Works at Front and Hall streets.
In 1876 the pumping station at the foot of Lincoln street was enlarged, a brick building erected, larger pumps installed and the reservoir at Seventh and Lincoln streets also enlarged. This reservoir was in continuous use until 1895, when pumping operations were discontinued.
In 1883, the company, foreseeing that the rapid growth of the city would soon require an enlargement of their plant, decided upon the construction of a new pumping station. The location selected was at Palatine hill, about five miles south of the city and on the west bank of the river adjacent to the deep water channel. Here a large brick building was constructed and two compound duplex Worthington pumping engines were installed, each having a capacity of 5,000,000 gallons daily. A 30-inch wrought iron main was also laid to a con- nection with the city distributing system.
So far in the growth of the city the water supply had been taken from the river and little wet weather creeks, the Mill street spring and the Willamette river, and had been supplied by private parties. This was not a satisfactory service. The water from the creeks was polluted by decaying vegetation and the water from the river was polluted by the increasing sewage of the city. And action was taken by the city in favor of municipal ownership of the water supply and the means to deliver and distribute it ; and an act of the legislature was secured in 1885 authorizing the municipality to purchase the ex- isting works or construct other works to supply needed water. At this time the population of west side Portland was about 25,000, and the daily consumption of water four million gallons. The water committee under the above act was composed of John Gates, F. C. Smith, C. H. Lewis, Henry Failing, W. S. Ladd, Frank Dekum, L. Fleischner, H. W. Corbett, W. K. Smith, J. Lowenberg, S. G. Reed, R. B. Knapp, L. Therkelsen, T. M. Richardson and A. H. Johnson. This committee conducted all the negotiations to purchase the old water works.
The first and most important matter after getting possession of the old works was to secure a supply of pure water that would be adequate to the future growth of the city. Many propositions were submitted to the city : The Hawthorne springs in East Portland, the Crystal springs on the Ladd farm south of East Portland, Sucker lake west of Oswego, Johnson's creek and the Clackamas river. Each had their friends and advocates more or less pecuniarily interested. All were carefully considered, and all turned down as either not furnishing the best obtainable quality of water, or not furnishing enough of it. Chemical analysis tests were applied to all samples of water proposed. And the committee finally selected the proposition offered by A. G. Cunningham and C. B. Talbot — water from Bull Run, thirty miles east of the city. This source of water supply had been discovered by Mr. Talbot on a hynting expedition around the base of Mt. Hood, about as wild, rugged, unknown and inaccessible region as could be found west of the Rocky mountains. Mr. Talbot was a civil engineer and quickly per- ceived that the foaming river of water roaring up out of the boulders of the mountain side, clear and sparkling, must sooner or later be of inestimable value to the future city of Portland if it ever became the expected center of population hoped for. And accordingly he interested Mr. Cunningham with him and they filed a claim on the stream for its water for household and city uses.
And it was upon this inchoate right of Talbot's to the Bull Run water that the water committee next gave attention to. And after exhaustive chemical analysis of the water and observations of the flow of the water for many months, the committee acquired for the city the right to that water; and in the course of two years brought it to the city through a great steel tube three to four feet in diameter laid eight feet deep in the ground ; and have thus provided for Port- land for all time the best water supply of any city in the Unit ​ed States.
The pipe line is thirty-one miles in length, and cost $2,736,921 to lay it down and connect it with the water mains in the city. In the work of construction, Mr. D. D. Clarke had supervision of the engineering work in the field, and Mr. C. E. Oliver, another civil engineer, was an able assistant; and both these men are still at work on the city mains and reservoirs, and have been doing the civil engineering from the first ground breaking — Mr. Clarke being now chief engi- neer of the water works system of the city.
The total cost of the Bull Run pipe line, the distributing mains laid by the old water committee and the old works purchased, was $4,736,921. The total mileage of water mains of all sizes, including the conduit pipe from Bull Run, laid in the city to the close of 1909, was 355 miles. The total storage capacity of all reservoirs owned by the city up to January i, 1910, is sixty-eight million gallons of water.
The total expenditures of the city for water works down to December 31, 1909, was $5,905,978, and the total income to the city — gross earnings — for the twenty-three years the city has furnished water to the people is $7,969,673. The present annual income for water furnished is over $600,000.
This favorable showing reflects great credit on the citizen committee which managed this important business for the people for all these years without sal- ary.
The original water committee remained in existence for seventeen years, or until January i, 1903, when the new city charter took effect. During the years there were many changes in the personnel of the committee by death or resigna- tion. Of the original number, R. B. Knapp and L. Therkelsen were the only ones who served the entire seventeen years. F. C. Smith, W. K. Smith and T. M. Richardson held office but a few years. The remaining number served con- tinuously until removed by death. And they have given the taxpayers an object- lesson in favor of municipal ownership of all public service utilities that ought not to be overlooked.
Fire Department — The city fire department consists of a chief, assistant and men, aggregating 469 men altogether, with salaries running from $225 a month to the chief, down to $90 a month for pipemen, and making a total estimated cost of running the department for 1910 the sum of $450,653. The city owns one fire boat equipped to operate along the river front, 17 fire engines, 16 hose wagons, 5 chemical engines and hose wagons, 3 four-wheeled hose carriages, a dozen hose cart trucks, ladder trucks, 4 chemical engines, 117 horses and above 20 engine houses and 150 miles of fire alarm telegraph.
Police Department — The police department consists of chief of police, 4 cap- tains, 9 sergeants, 11 detectives, i matron, 2 women's auxiliaries, and 150 patrol- men. Estimate of expense of operating the department for 1910 is $313,770. The number of arrests made in 1909 were 12,829, covering every crime, felony and misdemeanor included in the city and state laws. Just now the present effi- cient chief of police, A. M. Cox and his men, are wrestling with the persistent violators of the law running automobiles, making a dozen arrests a day and not catching one law breaker in ten.
Street Cleaning Department — This work is in the hands of a superintendent and 125 men. Seventy-two men with thirty carts, two power brooms, and one sprinkler working through the daytime, while fifty-two men, 9 power brooms, 3 sprinklers and 18 carts work at night. In addition to this equipment, the city had 35 water sprinklers operating every week day during the summer on days it did not rain, covering 140 miles of streets every day, besides three electric sprinkling cars covering the car line street. The city has 80 horses in this ser- vice; and the total cost of cleaning the streets for the year 1909 was $163,901.
The Garbage Crematory — This establishment has been a bone of contention ever since its erection. No one wanted it for a neighbor. And well they might object. For the year 1909 the crematory cremated 480 horses, 2,434 do ​gs, 31
cows, 23 calves, 2 hogs, i donkey, i sheep, 7 colts and 2 goats, using up 1,761 loads of sawdust and 369 cords of wood, and costing $22,182 to do the work.
The Health Department — This department has been noticed in the chapter on the doctors. It is presided over by a health officer whose report covers many tables with some information. He reports an epidemic of scarlet fever affecting 573 cases, resulting in 14 deaths; 267 cases of diphtheria, with 19 deaths; and the largest number of cases of typhoid fever ever known — 186 cases, and an ad- ditional 118 cases brought into the city from outside for treatment, with a death rate of 14 per cent. There was no death during the year from small pox, and only one death in 1,446 cases of measles.
INCREASE OF CITY BUSINESS.
Never in the history of Portland has there been such activity in municipal busi- ness, projects actually under way aggregating $4,329,900, aside from the enor- mous amount of hard-surface pavements, extensive systems of sewers and park properties to be worked out this season.
In addition to nearly one hundred miles of street improvements now in pro- cess of construction, a second pipe line to Bull Run to increase the water supply, and Broadway bridge in the course of litigation, many miles of street railway being rebuilt, there are four hundred residence houses and half a dozen steel frame ten-story office buildings in course of erection. All this of course adds to the duties and responsibilities of the several departments of the city and greatly increases the city expenses. The assessable property now within the incorporated limits of the city amounts to two hundred and fifty million dollars, and out of that and various licenses the city government must raise for the current year two million dollars to pay current administration city expenses. To the above must be added two and a half million dollars in city bonds voted by the people at the last election for public docks.
TtlE PUBLIC UTILITIES.
The Port of Portland — The first and most obvious public utility is the river dividing the city into two equal parts, carrying away to the rest of the world the produce of the state and bringing back from foreign countries the goods pur- chased with the exported produce. And just as this river from the heart of Port- land to the ocean is made free, open and navigable to all the great ships that sail the great ocean, in the same proportion will the city grow.
When Portland was located here it was thought by sea captains that no ship carrying more than 400 tons could reach this point. And before the city com- menced to improve the channel to the river no ships drawing more than 17 feet of water could reach the city. Now ships drawing 25 feet of water come to Portland and ocean steamers carrying 6,000 tons dead weight come and go with- out delay.
To bring about this improvement, much thought and work has been given to the proposition by public-spirited citizens. The first work done and first move made to improve Portland's access to the ocean was made by Col. W. W. Chap- man, while a member of the legislature of 1868. It took the shape of an act of the legislature appropriating the sum of $30,000 to subsidize a tugboat to be located at the mouth of the Columbia to assist shipping to get in and out of the river, help tow them up to Portland. In addition to that the city undertook to maintain a dredger on the lower Willamette river, and with that dredger a new channel was cut across Swan Island bar at a cost of $25,000. But the exper- ience with the tug and the dredger quickly showed the people that improvement of the river could be made ; but that to do so the undertaking must be perma- nent, continuous, and expensive. And after nearly twenty years' temporizing policy, depending largely on appropriations of congress, pieced out by grants and ​
temporary aid from the city treasury, the citizens decided to place the business of making a reHable ship channel to the ocean in the permanent form of a mu- nicipal corporation ; and the port of Portland commission was incorporated by special act of the Oregon legislature. The suggestion for the creation of this port of Portland corporation inside of the city corporation — imperium in im- perio — came from Major Alfred F. Sears in a letter to the Daily Oregonian, May 12, 1883, in which he said: 'Tf our river is to be kept open, it must be done by a board like the Clyde trust (of Scotland) working in the interest of Port- land, and with her money."
The port of Portland was incorporated in the year 1891, and then commenced the regular and systematic work of making a ship channel to the ocean that would float the largest ships desiring to come to this port. The work was ener- getically prosecuted with dikes to narrow the channel, and dredging to deepen it. In 1891 vessels for Portland drawing more than 17 feet of water found it neces- sary to discharge part of the incoming cargo, and to take on part of the out- going cargo at Astoria. As a result of the work of the United States engineers and of the port of Portland since that time, there has been no lighterage required during the last six years, and at the present time vessels drawing 25 feet of water are able to pass freely up and down the ship channel without delay.
Four years ago the port board decided to build a dry dock for the docking, cleaning and repairing of ships in this port, and save the loss of time and ex- pense of going to Puget Sound or San Francisco for such services. And ac- cordingly a site was purchased near St. Johns and work commenced and a dock of the floating type constructed at a cost of $377,342. since which time it has rendered effective service to the port and city, and made much more than op- erating expenses.
The total expenses of the port of Portland commission since its organization in 1891 for river improvements, dredges, dry dock and administration, has been $2,586,282. The present officers are : C. F. Swigert, president ; A. L. Pease, vice-president; C. F. Adams, treasurer; John Driscoll, secretary, and J. C. Ains- worth, P. L. Willis, W. D. Wheelwright, members. Clerk of the board, John P. Doyle ; chief engineer, J. B. C. Lockwood.
An active discussion is now going on pro and con public docks at the city water front for the receipt and discharge of freight and produce, especially the transfer between railroads and ships. Mr. J. N. Teal, attorney for the trans- portation committee of the Chamber of Commerce, after visiting many commer- cial cities in Europe, closes a 16-page pamphlet report to the chamber with the following recommendation : "A commission should be created at once with ample powers and funds. It should give the problem the most careful consideration under the advice of the best experts. It should then proceed carefully and con- servatively on the plan adopted. The result will be a port and harbor and facili- ties in Portland that will attract the shipping from every part of the world do- ing business on this coast. It will make of Portland one of the great ports of the world, with all that implies just as certainly as like work made Rotterdam, Bremen and Hamburg in Europe, Glasgow and Liverpool and other ports in Great Britain.
THE BRIDGES.
The next most noticeable public works are the bridges. The first means of crossing the river at Portland was Uncle "J'^^^y" Stevens' canoe, followed in due time by a skiff, and then by a scow-looking flatboat to carry teams. And as the city and east side country grew apace, the ferryboats were improved, and the Stevens' ferry proved to be a very profitable investment ; finally purchased by Joseph Knott, and by him and his sons operated until the construction of bridges put it out of business.
But the bridge question started twenty years before the ferries were put out of commission. For years it was the stale recommendation of every candidate ​
for office, asserting before the election his unwavering support of a bridge, and forgetting all about it as soon as the election was over. For many years the free bridge question was the leading topic of every election campaign on the east side of the river.
It is claimed by his friends that the first move to get a bridge built was made by Joseph A. Strowbridge nearly seventeen years before William Beck took up the idea. And that Mr. Strowbridge went so far as to get articles of incorpora- tion signed for a company to build the bridge; and went to Mr. Beck, who then lived out on a little farm at Sunnyside, to get him to take stock. But Beck de- clined, and said the ferry was good enough for him, for while he was crossing the river on the ferry, his horse (that hauled him to and from the city) could get a rest. And that after talking seventeen years more, Beck changed front on the bridge question and the talking was succeeded by vigorous action when Wil- liam Beck and Joseph Buchtel took hold of the subject in earnest. At that time, about 1875, Mr. Beck lived away out in the country among the pasture fields and dairy farms on the Base Line road between Sunnyside and Mt. Tabor ; and these two public-spirited citizens decided to test the question with a petition to the county court asking the county to build a free bridge across the river. The pe- tition was prepared and almost universally signed by all to whom it was pre- sented. A remonstrance was put out by Taxdodger, Tightwad & Co., but did not get many names. The petition was presented to the county court, consti- tuted of J. H. Woodward, county judge, and Tyler Woodward and Penumbra Kelley, commissioners. The two Woodwards were not related. Judge Wood- ward and Mr. Kelley were in favor of the free bridge; but Tyler Woodward was not favorably disposed, and not much opposed, to the proposition ; and everything looked favorable to the granting the prayer of the petitioners until the morning when the matter came up for final action. Beck and Buchtel were promptly on hand to receive the reward for their hard work in the success of the petition. And then Judge Woodward read a long legal and miscellaneous opinion on the subject, indorsing the movement and giving better reasons for it than even those set forth in the petition, but closed up his opinion by deciding that, inasmuch as there was no county road connecting with the river on the west side within the city limits, there was no public ground on the west side on which to land the west end of the bridge, and the prayer of the petitioners must be denied. Whereupon Messrs. Beck and Buchtel left the court in great disgust and indignation.
The next move for the bridge was an organization to form a company to build the bridge. Of this organization, William Beck was made president, Joseph Buchtel secretary, J. L. Atkinson treasurer and Melvin C. George attor- ney. This organization worked along in a desultory way for years, Mr. Beck putting up the promotion money and seeking assistance wherever it was possible to arouse interest in the matter, and the movement was finally converted into a proposition to build a toll bridge. At this turn of events, Mr. Buchtel with- drew, being opposed to a toll bridge ; but Mr. Beck kept on pushing. Negotia- tions were opened with Garrill Bros, of San Francisco, for the construction of the bridge, and the capital stock, enough to justify a start on construction, was subscribed by William Beck, Br. J. C. Hawthorne and some others. The com- pany commenced work on the east side by driving piles at the end of Morrison street. Then an injunction was gotten out from the U. S. district court on the grounds that the bridge would be an obstruction to the navigation of the river and an obstruction to commerce; and the work was stopped for years until the litigation was tried out, and in the meantime the contractors abandoned the job.
Finally the litigation was ended and the injunction dissolved; and a new con- tract was entered into with the Willamette Iron Bridge Company, and the work pushed to completion, after a strenuous contest for a dozen years with all sorts of opposition from ferry owners, town lot interests, north and south end of the city interests, river boatmen interests, and lack of public spirit to put up ​
the necessary capital to build the bridge. In all this labor, trial, vexation of spirit and bitter opposition, WiUiam Beck was in the forefront of the battle, and when the bridge was finally opened to traffic, he headed the grand procession across the bridge with the little old horse and buggy which had for so many years carried him to and from the farm on the Base Line road to his place of business in the city — and Joseph Buchtel led the procession on horseback as grand marshal.
As a fitting conclusion to this notice, we append the lines of Stephen May- bell, written at the time the opposition to the bridge was at its height, and the friends of the bridge were cast into the slough of despondency.
Stephen Maybell was at the time a typo on one of the city papers, and a man of genius and poetic ability. He left Portland before the bridge was built, go- ing to San Francisco, where he became the poet of the great labor upheaval led by Dennis Kearney, and celebrated as the revolution of the "sand lots."
WILLAMETTE BRIDGES.
By Stephen Maybell, 1870.
Behind the pines had sunk the sun,
And darkness hung o'er Oregon, When on the banks of Willamette
A youth was seen to set and set; And set and sing unto the moon
A wild, yet sweet pathetic tune — "They're going to build, I feel it yet,
A bridge across the Willamette."
The flat boat drifted slowly o'er
And reached at last the other shore; The captain, brave, courageous soul !
Fished her to land with fishing pole — When hark! from o'er the waves a strain —
That youth, that voice, that wild refrain, "They're going to build, I feel it yet,
A bridge across the Willamette."
Dark grew the night, the south wind blew,
Down came the Oregonian dew ; Down mountain sides the torrents pour'd,
The streamlets rose, the river roar'd — Still sung that youth with webbed toes ;
'Neath umberell, in rubber clothes — "They're going to build, I feel it yet,
A bridge across the Willamette."
A Modoc chief, in pure Chinook,
Cried "Klahowyah, tumtum, mamook; Hiyu tyee yah mucka muck,
Nowitka nike tika cumtux ; All the same white man, nika klonas,
Gum stick, mamook, skookum hyas ;" But silent grew his savage tongue.
For high above his war whoops rung — "They're going to build, I feel it yet,
A bridge across the Willamette." ​
A citizen from Yarmany,
Who heard him from the brewery, Sang out, "Young fellow, stop dot shouet !
Dot pridge, you bet, was pout blayed ouet; Some dings I know I tole you soon,
Dem land agents was d schmart coons,
Dot eye vas in my pridge, you bet !
Dot pridge across dot Villamette."
So winter rains and summer flowers.
Passed on with sad and pleasant hours; Yet still sat on the river bank,
A man bald-headed, lean and lank. Grown old still singing the same tune —
" 'Tis coming, coming, coming soon ! They're going to build, I feel it yet,
A bridge across the Willamette."
Years pass'd — there came a trav'ler roun'
To visit our East Portland town ; As on the river bank he stood,
He saw a sight that froze his blood; Right there beneath the glowing sun,
There sat a ghostly skeleton, Which turned its hideous, fleshless head.
And grinned most horribly, and said: "They're going to build, I feel it yet,
A bridge across the Willamette."
The bridge built by contractors was not a very substantial structure, and had to be replaced by the present fine bridge at the foot of Morrison street, erected in 1895.
But before the old Morrison street bridge was condemned, the city had pur- chased from the owners a private corporation bridge which had been erected at the foot of Madison street; and also on its own account erected a new steel bridge at the foot of Burnside street. The Madison street bridge was a real estate speculation on the part of people owning town lot lands on Hawthorne avenue in East Portland, and who had put a little street railroad on the avenue ; and the bridge was to enable the railroad to get across the river into old Portland and help sell out the Hawthorne avenue lots. It was a good speculation ; and the people woke up one morning to find that Mayor Mason had bought the bridge of the speculators, also for the city, at about twice its value. After be- ing used for about fifteen years, with constant repairs, the bridge was condemned as unsafe, and now, after being closed for two years, the Madison street bridge is replaced by a new steel bridge erected on the plan of a "lift up" span between two towers to allow ships to pass underneath, instead of a swing span, as in the other bridges.
The city now owns three steel bridges crossing the Willamette, and also rents the upper deck of the railroad bridge at the foot of Holladay avenue; and the growth of population and business in the city is such that all four of these bridges are now packed with teams, automobiles and street cars from end to end, all day long. To relieve this congestion of traffic on the bridges, the city by ref- erendum vote, has authorized the erection of another bridge at the foot of Broadway street at the north end of the city, the money raised, commencement work temporarily delayed by litigation, and now decided, and engineers at work on plans. ​
As showing the immense traffic on the bridges, we copy a count of the traffic early in the morning on the Morrison Street bridge, the counting being made to show the necessity of keeping the bridge draws closed against passing steam- boats in the morning hours. This count was made in September, 1910.
At 5:15 p. m. they started to count the vehicles, street-cars and pedestrians that passed over the bridge. In the half hour ending at 5 :45, 95 cars, 213 vehi- cles of various kinds, and 704 pedestrians traveled across. Of the latter. 359 passed through the north aisle and 345 through the south aisle.
The development of the city in all directions is now proceeding at a greater rate of increase and in a more substantial manner than at any former period in its history. Added to the 200 miles of street railways, electric roads are be- ing extended in all directions. By street railways and manufacturing establish- ments, the city is now practically extended from Milwaukie on the south to the Columbia river opposite Vancouver on the north, and to Mt. Scott six miles east. And real estate speculators more than supplement the steady growth of the city by laying out suburban additions and building roads to sell lots and lands. But nothing shows the solid development of population and business better than the increase of post office income.
Business of the Portland post office, both in the stamp and money order de- partments, has been growing steadily. Each year since 1904 has shown con- siderable increase over its predecessor, both in stamp and money order transac- tions. The annual business for that period, with December figures estimated in the 1909 totals is as follows :
Stamp sales. Money orders.
1904 $379,522.70 $7,378,35370
1905 473.083.38 7,776,208.79
1906 540,266.23 8,891,877.57
1907 628,475.19 10,013,174.92
1908 680,813.96 10,676,473.22
1909 778,552.11 10,828,452.32
Post office receipts for the month of August, 1910, show a remarkable increase over those for the same month of 1909. The percentage of increase shows the month to have been one of the most prosperous of the year.
The report of receipts follows :
August, 1910 $74,976.45
August, 1909 60,815.65
Increase $14,160.80
Percentage of increase, 23.28 per ce:nt. .;