# The Centennial History of Oregon, 1811–1912/Volume 1/Chapter 16

CHAPTER XVI
1843-1908
THE COUNTY ORGANIZATION OF THE STATE
The organization of the counties of Oregon commenced with the Provisional Government. At the popular sovereignity meeting of the people held at Cham- poeg (then called and spelled "Charapooick") on May 2, 1843, a legislative com- mittee was appointed by the sovereign people at that meeting and instructed to prepare a Code of Laws and report the same to a meeting to be held on July 5, 1843. No authority was conferred upon the committee to divide the country into Districts or counties ; but the committee assumed that power believing it to be a necessary part of their duty under the circumstances, and recommended the following: "The First District, to be called the Tuality District, comprising all the country south of the northern boundary line of the United States, west of the Willamette or Multnomah river, north of the Yamhill river, and east of the Pa- cific Ocean.
"Second District, to be called the Yamhill District, embracing all the country west of the Willamette, or Multnomah river, and a supposed line running north and south from said river, south of the Yamhill river to the parallel of 42° north latitude, or the boundary line of the United States and California, and east of the Pacific Ocean.
"Third District, to be called the Clackamas District, comprehending all the territory not included in the other three districts.
"Fourth District, to be called the Champooick District, and bounded on the north by a supposed line drawn from the mouth of the Anchiyoke (Pudding) river, running due east to the Rocky mountains, west by the Willamette or Mult- nomah river, and a supposed line running due south from said river to the paral- lel of 42 ° north latitude ; south by the boundary line of the United States and California-, and east by the summit of the Rocky Mountains.
"The committee recommended that the above districts be designated as 'Oregon Territory.'"
Clackamas county is distinguished in the history of the State as the first center of American population; and as having in it the first established town (Oregon City), and as having the first mercantile establishments, the first saw mill, the first fiour mill, the first newspaper, the firet Capital of the future State, and the first and only mint to coin and issue money in the United States, independent of the United States.
The Census returns of population for Clackamas county are as follows: for the year 1850—1,859; 1860—3,466; 1870—5,993; 1880—9,260; 1890-15,233; 1900—19,658; 1910—29,931.
Subsequently the Provisional Government legislature created the districts of Clatsop and Polk, and in 1845 changed the name of district to that of county. ​The name Chanipooick was the name of the Indian village at the point now known as ' ' Champoeg ' ' ; and from that association became the name of the dis- trict. It is an Indian word, without doubt, and was often referred to in early days as meaning the "place of the Camp," as it was the only point along the Willamette river for more than seventy-five miles where a portion of the virgin prairie extended to the river bank.
The name Tuality, after being bandied around by the writers and historians from 1834 to 1850 as "Palatine, Fallatten, Twality, Tualitin, Fallatry, Faulitz, Fallatah, and Quality," finally settled down to be by common usage spelled as "Tualatin," and was the name of the county until changed to that of Wash- ington by the Territorial Legislature in 1849. The name of Tualatin still adheres to the only river in the county, and to the beautiful prairie country siirround- ing Hillsboro, Forest Grove, Banks, Glencoe and Cornelius. The name of the river is an Indian name and signifies sloth or sluggish, and whether applied by the Indians to the river exclusively, or to the river and the plains both, nobody can tell. As a general thing Indian names of natural features applied to places and not streams, so that a long river might have different names to different tribes. The name of the Yamhill river is a case in point; for it de- rived its name from the bald hills, northeast of Lafayette which the Indians termed "Che-am-il. " This discovery was made by Judge Deady, who first settled at old Lafayette and looked up the origin of the name among the few remaining Indians then in the Willamette valley; and from the name of the hills, both the river and the county derive their names. Clackamas is another Indian name, and has had a great variety of spelling and pronunciation. The word was apparently originally applied to the tribe of Indians living on the Clackamas river ; and from the tribe the river took its name, and from that com- bination the county got its name. Tolbert Carter, a pioneer of 1846, always claimed that the word "Tualatin" was an Indian word which meant a "land without trees" — significant in its application to the broad plains in Washington county as they appeared sixty years ago.
Clatsop is another county, originally called a "District" which derives its name from a small Indian tribe located south of the mouth of the Columbia river; and which was created, organized or segregated as a District by an Act of the Provisional Government Legislature on June 22, 1844. Clatsop is dis- tinguished as being the first point of land in the old Oregon country on which the American flag was flung to the breeze. Here the Astor expedition by sea and land located in 1811, and erected a stockade fort and within which erected storehouses, dwelling houses and means of defense. It is the only county that has had or could have a "Centennial" celebration of its founding and exis- tence as an American community; and it is the only place where British guns were trained to fire on American interests in Oregon. Its chief city, Astoria, is the outpost and sentinel holding the keys to the gate, to protect the name, fame and vast interests of Oregon and the great Columbia river valley. And well and faithfully has the ' ' City by the Sea ' ' performed that duty.
"Be ours the dreams prophetic, shadowing forth
The things that yet shall be
As through this gate the treasures of the North
Flow outward to the sea."
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MAJOR BALL
A lineal descendant of the mother of George Washington—For many years a resident of Curry County
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EUGENE CITY IN 1860
rebuilt on higher and safer ground. The census shows the followiug growth of population.
For the year 1890— 4.211.') ; lOOO— 1.151 ; I'JIU— 4,;557.
Gilliam county was organized in the year 1885, and named in honor of Colonel Cornelius Gilliam, an Oregon pioneer of 1844, and who was accidentally killed at Wells Springs in the territory of that county while in command of a regiment of Oregon volunteers who had gone out to capture the murderers of Dr. Whitman. Gilliam was a good man, a good citizen, a good soldier and deserved the honor, its county seat is Condon, in honor of Thomas Condon.
The growth of the population of the county is shown by the census reports as follows:
For the year 1890—3,600; 1900—3.201; 1910—3,701.
Wallowa county was organized on February 11, 1887, being carved out of the territory of Union county, and is located in the northeastern corner of the State. The county gets its name from the beautiful Lake and river which dis- tinguishes the beautiful mountain valley, the most attractive mountain scenery of the whole State, and not excelled by that of any other region in the world. This beautiful valley was the home of that branch of the Nez Perce tribe of Indians whose government was the rule of the great Indian Chief Joseph, and whose likeness appears on another page. Joseph and his people claimed that they had been unjustly driven out of the valley by the white man, and on being refused restoration to their ancient home went to war in 1877, and being at- tacked by the U. S. Troops under General 0. 0. Howard, Joseph effected such a masterly and successful retreat over the Rockj' Mountains as to win the re- spect and admiration of the General and all his men. To recognize the dis- tinguished Chief the settlers in the valley have named their principal town "Joseph" in honor of the Indian; the only town or county named in honor of an Indian on the Pacific Coast.
The census reports of the county show population as follows: For 1890 — 3,661 ; 1900—5,538 ; 1910—8,364 ; Enterprise is the county seat.
Malheur county was organized by the legislature February 17, 1887. It occupies the southeastern corner of the State. It gets the name from the prin- cipal river in the county; and the river got the name from the fact that the Indians had stolen a cache of furs and goods the Hudson's Bay Co. trapper, Peter Skene Ogden, had hid on the banks of the river. The word is pronounced as if spelled "Maloor, " and is a French tei-m signifying "bad luck." It is as yet a sparsely settled region. But now in this year 1912, the Oregon Short Line iailroad is being constructed westerly across the county.
The census reports population of the county as follows :
For 1890—2,601 : 1900—4,203 ; 1910—8.601 : The County seat is now at tlie town of Vale.
Harney county was created by legislative enactment February 25, 1889, and embraces the great Harnej* Valley, including the large lakes Malheur and Harney. The county is named in honor of ilajor-General William S. Harney, a distinguished soldier of the United States army, who had seen bard service fight- % ing Indians in Florida, Illinois and Oregon, besides active service in the war with Mexico, and finally against the Southern rebels in Missouri, Being given ​command in Oregon in 1858, he opened the Harney valley to settlement after it had been closed against white settlers by General Wool. A good likeness of the distinguished soldier appears on another page.
Harney is now the scene of great activity, in taking up the long neglected rich lands of that region. Burns, the principal town and county seat, contains the U. S. Land office, with two banks and many prosperous mercantile houses; and it has tributary territory of rich land large enough to make a greater State than many of the New England States. The census reports the gi'owth of population as follows:
For the year 1890—2,559; 1900—2,598; 1910—4,059.
Sherman county was organized by the legislature on February 25, 1889, having been once the northeastern portion of Wasco County. It is named in honor of Major General Wm. T. Sherman, the hero of the march through Georgia to the sea which cut the Southern Confederacy in twain and broke the backbone of the Southern Rebellion. This is one of the great wheat producing counties of the State, and upon which many farmers have grown rich. The county seat is Moro.
The growth of population is shown by the census reports as follows:
For the year 1890—1,792; 1900—3,477; 1910—4,242.
Lincoln county created by legislative act on February 20, 1893, is located on the Pacific ocean west of Benton county, embracing the Siletz Indian reservation, the Siletz valley, vast bodies of the finest timber in the world, the health resorts of Yaquina and Newport, and is named in honor of the martyr President, Abraham Lincoln.
The census reports the white population as follows:
For the year 1900—3,575; 1910—5,587, and the Indian population for 1900 —465; and for 1910— 392.
The county seat is at the town of Toledo.
Wheeler county was organized February 17, 1899, out of portions of Crook, Gilliam and Grant Counties. It is named for Henry H. Wheeler, an old settler in that part of the State. Its county seat is at the town of Fossil, which is so named for the great varietj' of fossil remains of the ancient animal life of that region.
The census shows its population as follows: For the year 1900—2,443; 1910—2,484.
Hood River is the last county organization of the legislature, and the Act for which was passed by an initiative petition at an election held June 1, 1908. Its territory Avas taken off of Wasco county. The county gets its name from the great mountain at the head of its river; and the mountain was named bj' Lieut. Broughton, for Lord Hood, an English nobleman. The county seat is the town of Hood River; so the English lord dominates the whole aggregation of mountains, county and town. Its population according to the census of 1910 is 8,016.
LINDSAY APPLEGATE
A locator of the Applegate Trail into Southern Oregon, 1845
FOUNDER OF FRUIT GROWING IN ROGUE RIVER VALLEY
Its remoteness from markets, its lack of transportation facilities or even passable wagon roads to connect it with the older and settled portions of either Oregon or California, were deterring factors in preventing its agricultural development, while its bunch grass covered hills, its native meadows and abundant springs,naturally indicated its adaptability to stock raising; an industry that did not of necessity require transportation other than upon its own legs. Hence its introductory history was that of a stock country only, and as the large stock owners required for their business a free range for their herds, scanty encouragement was given to settlers, who would fence up and improve the land.
The writer was one of the first to demonstrate the agricultural possibilities of the soil; and having no means other than the small sum saved during his two years and eight months service in the army, he very naturally tried to cultivate a little garden, and raise some grain to help defray the cost of living which was necessarily high from the fact that all provisions, clothing, and other supplies, were brought in over the mountains by mule trains, or in wagons, from a long distance. No railroads were then built either in Oregon or California, and the river steamers were the freight handlers to the head of navigation, whence the mule train or the freight wagon were the distributing agents.
The greatest drawbacks in the settlement of the country were not however, the natural obstacles that confronted the settler. These he could overcome and conquer, but the unjust and inefficient land laws that deterred settlement, and which the state authorities made no attempt to remedy, deprived many an honest hardworking family of their home, and discouraged many would be settlers from attempting to make homes in the country.
The first settlers located in the near neighborhood of Link River and the shores of Little Klamath Lake. This land had been surveyed in 1859, by D. P. Thompson and others, when it was far in advance of any prospective settlement. But in those days the surveying of public lands was a very lucrative business, and the contracts were let far in advance of the actual needs of settlement to accommodate administration supporters. As the country was occupied with Indians who, though not actively hostile to the white man, were yet extremely jealous of intrusions into their territory, and resented the marking of their lands, very many of the stakes and monuments were destroyed almost as soon as erected and the surveyors became very careless about the permanency or accuracy of their work. Many of the corner and half-mile posts were simply small branches of trees stuck in the ground with blazed surfaces to receive the survey markings, or a boulder set up on end upon which the symbolic characters were lightly chiseled.
Nearly or quite all of the lands embraced in this early survey had been selected from the field notes as a part of the five hundred thousand acre grant given the state by congress "to aid in internal improvements," but had not been approved as such by the secretary of the interior. The only way to get a recognition of right to these lands was to file an application describing the tract, with the secretary of the state land board, who charged a fee of three dollars ($3.00) for filing the same. Then whenever the state selections were approved the party making the first application could pay one-third of the ​purchase price, which was then two dollars per acre, give his notes for the remaining two-thirds in two equal payments, and receive from the state a certificate of purchase. This certificate was transferable. Any person, a citizen of the United States and over eighteen years of age, could, if a settler on such lands purchase three hundred and twenty acres; in case the applicant was not a settler, the amount of land that could be bought by one person was limited to one hundred and sixty acres.
In the case of the writer, who took up one of the first places in the country he filed his application accompanied b3' the affidavits of two disinterested parties, that the applicant was an actual settler on the lands applied for, and was cultivating and improving the same as a home.
In spite of this precaution six other filings were allowed on top of his first filing, the clerk of the board realizing a goodly sum for permitting them to be recorded. This rendered it necessary to hire lawyers to defend his title in order to secure the certificate.
It was also found that nearly all the most valuable meadow lands, and many large tracts of higher sage brush lands that protruded into the marsh lands had been returned by the early survey, as a part of Little Klamath Lake, and as many settlers were coming into the country who •wished to locate homes on these lands, the writer drew up a petition to the secretary of the interior reciting the conditions and asking for a resurvey of these lands in order that all lands susceptible of settlement might be thrown open for entry. This petition was signed by nearly all the settlers in the country, and resulted in a resurvey being made during the fall of 1872, in spite of a large number of exparte-affidavits sent to prevent the resurvey. These affidavits,—some five or six in number were largely made by people living in California and engaged in stockraising, who were deeply interested in preventing the settlement of the ranges.
To give an idea of the motive for these strenuous efforts to balk the settlement and development of the country, it is necessary to go back to the legislative session of the Oregon legislature of 1870, when a bill drawn up by Quiney A. Brooks, to select and dispose of swamp lands in the State of Oregon, to which the state was entitled by Act of March 12, 1860. This bill was cleverly drawn to enable a few individuals to secure control of all lands that could by any means be construed as swamp or overflowed, within the state, as it provided among other things that the lands could be selected in advance of the U. S. surveys, by describing them by natural boundaries, such as mountain ranges, lakes, rivers, etc. There was no limit to the amount any one could file on, and the price was one dollar per acre, 20 cents to be paid after the acceptance of the state selection by the secretary of the interior, and the remaining 80 cents to be paid when the lands were finally reclaimed.
commenced a land office was established at Linkville in the fall of 1873, and some fourteen or fifteen settlers were located under the preemption and home- stead laws. Judson Small and George Conn, were appointed as register and receiver of the Linkville Land Office, but Mr. Small soon resigned, as office work was too confining for him ; and through the efforts of Senators John H. Mitchell. Samuel B. Cranston, a brother-in-law of Quiney A. Brooks, and him- self a large filer on swamp land under the Brooks application, was put in as register.
To further insure the defeat of the settlers, the state board appointed Q. A. Brooks as attorney to conduct the prosecutions instigated against every set- tler upon the resurveyed lands. As a result, all contests with settlers on land claimed as swamp were prosecuted before an interested register who ruled out all evidence favorable to settlers, and delayed and postponed trials to annoy tlicm during the season of haying or semi-annual rodeo. The settlers joined forces in the employment of B. Z. Dowell of Jacksonville to take their cases to a final settlement ; but such a policy of delay and postponement was followed that it was evident that the policy of the State was not to secure an early set- tlement of the questions at issue, as it was to wear out the settlers by pro- tracted litigation.
When the laud office was moved to Lakeview, soon after that place became the county seat, the register was removed for cause, and the newly appointed reg- ister was of a different character and not an interested party.; yet the long distance (120 miles) that contestants were obliged to go to attend land con- tests was one of the causes that contributed to the discouragement of the set- tlers, most of whom either sold out their claims for a small pittance, or aban- doned them entirely. During these land troubles, which lasted over ten j-ears. several different agents of the government and state came out to investigate and report as to the actual conditions and character of the land in controversy, etc., but in nearly every instance these men were taken in charge by the land speculators before their investigation commenced or soon after, and the reports they made were so evidently colored by the prosecution, and so one-sided that they were of no value in the real determination of facts.
In 1880. when the state elections were approaching, the deposed register, formerly a rabid Republican, renounced his allegiance to the Republican party, iind made a canvass of the county to secure support for the Democratic nomi- nation for representative for the County of Lake, which was then Democratic by 140 majority. The Republican County Convention which followed that of the Democrats in Lakeview, nominated the writer as their candidate for the Legislature to oppose Mr. Cranston for the reason that he had been active in the fight to secure the land for settlers, and in the hope that he might, if elected, get some remedial legislation for the home seekers, and cause a suspension of the state's policy of fighting the settlers on its frontiers.
No notice reached the writer of any intent to place him in nomination. ni)r did he learn that he was on the ticket for near a week after his opponent had taken up an active campaign, so that in response to a challenge to joint debate he only had sufficient notice to meet him at two points as he was closing his canvass, namely Bonanza and Linkville. ​The election was a landslide in favor of the Republican candidate who re- versed the 140 majority, receiving nearly half the entire Democratic vote of the county.
The legislative experience of the writer shows the methods employed by the land sharks to defeat the will of the people, and by suppressing all at- tempts at exposing their methods, secure a continuance of their exploiting the public domain for individual profit.
In writing this chapter, it is with no desire to laud or extol the efforts of the writer, but to give a true statement of facts, that will show the conspiracy of the land and moneyed interests to gain and retain control of the public lands for private gain.
Having had no experience in public life, being unfamiliar with parliamentary usage, the writer experienced something similar to the feelings of the boj^ who first starts to school, scarce knowing how, or what to do to fill his responsible position with honor or credit. He realized that much was expected of him, that it was essential that something be done to aid the settler and thwart the efforts being made to turn the lands of his county over to speculators.
In his dilemma, he was advised by B. J. Pengra, of Springfield (an uncle by marriage) to lay his case before Judge J. M. Thompson, who was one of the representatives from Lane County and had been Speaker of the House two years before, when he made an enviable record as an honest efficient representative and a fearless exponent of right, and an untiring foe of wrong, whether of Republican or Democratic parentage.
As presiding officer of the Democratic House of the former session, he had incurred the enmity of the major portion of his party by probing and exposing some of the dishonesty of a former Democratic administration. At the last election he was elected by Republican votes, his own party being desirous to punish him by defeating him in the election.
Having a letter of introduction to Judge Thompson, from my uncle, I soon interested him in the cause of the settlers, and he promised to aid me in preparing a suitable measure, to be put before the house, for their protection.
The preliminary skirmishing to organize the house developed the fact that the main issue engaging the members was that of the building of a state insane asylum at Salem.
The insane of the state had heretofore been cared for in a private asylum in East Portland, by Dr. Hawthorne, and had occasioned much comment and strife with regard to its management, and as its maintenance cost many thou- sands of dollars, and was very profitable to the community where situated both from a pecuniary and political standpoint, the people of Portland and its nearby counties desired to retain it, while the southern, or as called, the "Cow Counties" wished to place the care and control of the insane in a state building and at the state capital. Hence the legislative organization was more of a sectional than political strife, the Democrats being hopelessly outnumbered.
Candidates for Speaker were J. P. Schooling and Z. F. Moody of AVaseo, and the latter having the united support of the "Cow Counties" and Eastern Oregon, was victorious and the asylum fight was on. Believing that the Speaker was fully informed as to why I was sent there to
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THE DALLES METHODIST MISSION — 1838