page_title: Bushrod Washington Wilson
section_title: Move to Oregon
hierarchical_section_title: Bushrod Washington Wilson / Biography / Move to Oregon
caption_attribution_description: English: Marys River near the mouth in Corvallis, Oregon. View from Highway 99 bridge looking east toward the Willamette River.
context_page_description: Bushrod Washington "Bush" Wilson was a pioneer, business leader, and local politician in the American state of Oregon. He is best remembered as one of the pioneer first citizens of the town of Corvallis, Oregon and as the founder of the Willamette Valley & Coast Railroad, established in 1874.
context_section_description: After adverse weather which made the journey slow and treacherous, the Reindeer arrived at the mouth of the Umpqua, located near the southern boundary of the Oregon territory, on November 8, 1850. Wilson and his compatriots arrived to a virtually deserted place, and considered themselves "fooled as to the diggings on the Umpqua." Wilson and four would be miners purchased a canoe from local Native American people and began to head up the river.
  Together with a companion Wilson made his way by foot over the Coast Mountain Range to the Willamette Valley, eventually arriving at the junction of the Willamette and Marys rivers — the site of the present city of Corvallis, then a settlement called "Marysville." There Wilson and his associate joined founding settlers Joseph C. Avery, James F. Dixon, and a small handful of others who had established homesteads under the Donation Land Claim Act.
  Wilson first worked as a carpenter, taking a land claim and building his own cabin, working for wages from others in his spare time. Wilson had no aspirations at farming, instead spending the 1851 agricultural year building a 20 by 30 foot house, one full storey and a loft in height. Wilson was extremely enthusiastic about his new home, anticipating that Marysville would eventually be "one of the largest places in Oregon" and a "center of travel to and from California" as a commercial center on the banks of the north-and-south running Willamette River. Construction was booming and Wilson was able to clear a handsome $3 a day working as a carpenter, with all the construction work that could be handled.
  In 1855 Wilson married former Missouri resident turned Oregon pioneer Priscilla Owsley Yantis. The couple would ultimately raise 13 children, 9 of whom survived their childhood years to adulthood.
  He also spent time improving his homestead claim, clearing and cultivating a parcel of land, which he ultimately sold for $3,500. He speculated on town land parcels ultimately owning 20 lots valued at from $50 to $300 each.
  In 1858 Wilson liquidated many of his assets and used the money to purchase a steam-powered sawmill and planing mill located in Peoria, Oregon, located about 7 miles east of Corvallis. The facility was capable of turning out 12,000 board feet of lumber per day, material which allowed Wilson to clear an average of $7 per day. Martin stayed in the lumber business for just one year, ultimately selling the mill in 1859, carrying the loan and charging 20% interest.
  In search of a new occupation, Wilson decided to once again try his hand at placer mining, purchasing and operating gold mining claims on the Owyhee River in southern Idaho. This time he managed to do "better than the majority and came out about even." Wilson also constructed and operated the first ferry across the Snake River, near the site of today's Lewiston. He plied this trade for a short time before returning to Corvallis in 1861, where he also ran a ferry across the Willamette for about a year.
caption: Junction of the Marys and Willamette Rivers, today within the boundaries of Corvallis, Oregon.
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