The Western news., 1900-07-11
AN OLD TIMERS STORY.
The Fourth at Corvallis-An Enjoy
able Celebration-An Old Tim
er's Picnic-Racing, Sports and
Games.

The 124th anniversary Of America,
Independence was fittingly observe,
by the people of Corvallis and tnei
friends al Woodside grove. 1t was /:
genuine old fashioned celebration sucl
as was the rule in the Bitter Root
Given at one time under the
auspices of the old timers and the
modern Woodmen of America, an i'm
'nense crowd, estimated as high as
5000 gathered. and had a most enioy.
able time. The people came from all
over the valley, from Missoula to Ross
Hole. There were plenty Of we'll filled
baskets and the picnickers feasted and
were merry. The Hamilton Silver
cornet band discoursed patriotic tunes
in its usual excellent manner; there
were horse races and other sports and
q general cotnmingling of old timers
some OF whom had not seen one an
other for years. The parade Of old
timers, decorated with badges, was an
interesting feature.
Judge Frank H. Woody, who came
west ~ years ago and who arrived in
the Bitter Root in 1868 when st.
Mary's Peak was only hole in the
ground, read from manuscript a most
interesting address, in which he told
how Oregon, which at that time COM
prised what is now Oregon, Washing
ton. Idaho and Montana, was saved for
the union. The text of his address fol-
lows:
We have met here today to celebrate
the l24th birthday of American indie
pendence. One hundfed and twenty
four years ago today, in the city of
Philadelphia our forefathers signed
that immortal document which pro-
claimed to the world the independence
OF the American colonies, and after a
long and bloody war, which terminat-
ed at Yorktown, that Independence was
established, and ever since that date,
we have been "a free and independent
nation, acknowledged as such, by all
the world. In 1776, when we first pro-
claimed our independence, our country
consisted of but thirteen small, sparce-
ly. settled and struggling colonies,
with population not exceeding three
millions of people, while today our
flag waves over forty-five sovereign
states, besides the territories of Ari-
zona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and AL
aska, and the District of Columbia,
with population of about 1900 900
of free American citizens, not count
in,, our newly acquired island posses
sions. Since we declared our Inde-
pendence in 1776, American arms and
American valor have carried our flag
triumphantly through the war of the
Revolution, the war of 1872, the Trip
olian war against the pirates on the
shores of the Mediterranean, the Mex
ican war, and the recent war with
Spain, in all of which, the valor dis
played by our American soldiers and
sailors was such as to call forth the ad-
miration of the nations of the world.
During our civil war from 1861 to
1865, when the North and the South
were pitted against each other,
the men of each section fighting val-
orously for what they believed to be
the right, fought some of the greatest
battles known to the worlds history,
and the bravery and desperate fight
ing of the officers and men of both
caused the nations of the old
world to look on the struggle with awe,
and amazement, that the little repub-
lie of the United States should be able
to put into the field some of the great
est armies, and fight some Of the
greatest battles that the world had
ever known.
The sectional feelings and animos='1
tiles engendered by our civil war have
been almost, if not entirely, obliterat-
ed, and we now stand before the world
as great, united and happy people
with one country and one flag, and
able to defend and uphold it against
any nation on the face of the globe.
Our war with Spain did more to .eradi-
cate sectional feeling and to unite the
American people, than anything else
that has transpired since the close of
the civil war. At the battles Of San
Jaun Hill, and FL Caney; men who
had fought with desperate bravery,
on opposite sides during our civil war,
fought shoulder 70 shoulder, under the
stars and stripes, forgetting that Sec
tional feeling engendered by the civil
war. and only vying with each other,
as to who should be the first in the
thickest of the fight and chiefest
among them, was that grand old soldier
Gen. Joe Wheeler, who showed that he
could fight as well under tie stars and
stripes, as he had fought under the