The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1879-04-18
DEATH OF II. j. DRYER.

Old residents will remember how large q.
place was filed in early annals of Oregon
by him whose death we are now called upon
to announce. Mr.. Dryers activity and en-
ergy, exerted through The Oregonian, upon
the speakers platform and through deiber-.
ative bodies, made him a conspicuous figure
In Oregon for many years. Always an active
worker and vigorous antagonist, he never
theless so conducted himself that his con-.
tests left no bitterness toward himself. For.
the kind of strife in which it fell to him to
engage. during the early days of political
warfare in Oregon he was excellently fitted
and equipped The struggle in which he had
engaged with all the earnestness of his ma.
ture was a hopeless one for years, but hs
never quailed or faltered, and always main-.
tanned the respect of his opponents. If his
mode of controversy was rough one it must,
be remembered that his antagonists We're
men who, because they used rough weapons.
could be dealt with successfully only in
their own manner: Mr.. Dryer was an un-
fiinching pioneer advocate of the political
ideas which have been triumphant in the
country during the last twenty yearsl
With their earlier triumph his exceptions.
activity ceased !; and during later years, as.
age has grown upon him, he has been too
feeble to renew connection with affairs in
which he formerly bore prominent part
tion in political affairs no man IN Oregon
commanded a larger share of public atten-
ton
Thomas j. Dryer was born in the state of
New York, we think in Ulster county, ON
the 10th January. 1908. With some expe-
rience in newspaper work he came to Cali.
fornia in l849, and was employed for some
months upon a journal in San Francisco.
But he was looking for an independent field
for journalism, and purchasing small lot of
printing material he came to Oregon to es-
tablish a newspaper. Landing in Portland
he brought out the first number of The Ore.
gonion on the 4th December 1850. Under
his Management it was always a weekly pa
per, as the field was not large enough for. q
daily till some time after he retired from the
publication of the paper. In those days
news had small space in an Oregon journal.
There was communication but once a month
from San Francisco, and sometimes not so
often, and it frequently happened that news
from the eastern states was three months.
old when published. in The Oregonsan. The
>tatsman soon afterwards was started, and
the controversies of local politics began,
which for several years largely. filed the
columns of these two principal Oregon papers,
Mr.. Dryer was once elected to the. terrific.
rial legislature, and was a member of the.
convention which framed the constitution of
the state. In 1860 his prominence in the
Republican party. secured for him place on
the presidential electoral ticket and he was
chosen to bear the vote of the state to,
Washington. At this time he sold The. Ore
gonian, having conducted the paper contin-
uously for. ten years. After the inaugura-
tion Of Lincoln he was appointed minister,
resident to the Sandwich Islands, a position
he held for several years. After his retire.
ment from that position he returned to Port
land. His wife died several years ago, since
which time he has lived almost alone, but.
was seen and greeted almost daily upon the.
streets, upto the time when he was taken.
with his fatal illness only two or three
weeks ago.
Mr.. Dryer. was earnest and honest,;
worked for general purposes, and took little.
thought for himself. His death leaves no.
small vacancy in the narrowing circle Of,
those who were p. ointment in the early his.
tory of Oregon He had many friends, par.
ticularly in Portland, who have always pre-
served an interest in his welfare, and who
hear with regret that he is no no more. He,
reached the age of seventy-e -ene years, two
months and twenty days. Oregonian.