The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1904-09-01
Dawes DIVERS,
PIONEER, DEAD

Dawes Divers, one of the earliest set.
tiers in the Hood River valley, died
Thursday night, August 25, at the age
OF 70. The old man had been failing
for some time, and was being cared for
in his declining hours by the friendly
hands of the Neff Bros at the home OF
Frank Neff Of the East Side.
Mr.. Divers was born in Virginia,
February 8, 1925. He was married in
his native state, and in 1S43 moved to
Missouri. In 1852 he crossed the plains
to Oregon, settling on the Clackamas
river. Not being satisfied with his
location there, in the summer of 1862,
he drove over the Barlow road to The
Dalles, and thence to Hood River, being
the first man to bring wagon over the
mountains from The Dalles. How he
did it, with nothing but an Indian trail
to follow, was certainly remarkable,
says d. A. Turner, the one surviving
pioneer who was living here when
Dawes Divers joined the little settlement
in Hood River.
Arriving here with his wife, four
children, two yoke of cattle, two cows,
and $27. so in cash, Mr.. Divers settled
on the meadow lands OF upper Hood
River, on the property since known as
the Divers place. Here his family of
boys grew to manhood, and his wife
died six years ago.
At the death of his wife, Mr.. Divers
was left alone in the world, two of his
sons having died and the others having
deserted the old home His land hold
ings, representing the accumulations OF
lifetime were sold to Judge Prather,
and at the request of the old man, Neff
Bros. promised to care for him when he
could no longer help himself. The Neff
boys were faithful to the old pioneer
wish.
Many are the kind words heard of
Mr.. Divers from those who knew him.
He was hard working, faithful and
honest, and it is said of him that he
was never known to do harm to any one.
He had four sons, John, James, Joseph
and William. John and William are
dead, while the other two are scattered
somewhere to different parts of the
Pacific coast.
When Mr.. Divers reached Hood River
in the month of August, AZ years ago,
there were but three families residing
on the West Side of the valley. They
were Nathaniel Coe, father Of Captain
II. G. Coe, who still lives on a portion
of the original homestead in the west
end of the city, Jenkins, owner of the
Jenkins donation claim, now the prop
erty of Dr. W. L. Adams, and a. G.
Phelps, who resided then on what is
now the Frank Chandler property on
the creek that bears the name of that
early settler
On the east side of the valley were
the families of n. Benson, who resided
on the Frank Button place, John Stan
ley at Mosier, d. A. Turner and William
Odell in the 0del neighborhood, and
Harrison and Hardin Corum. This is
the list as furnished the Glacier by Mr..
Divers two years ago.
Mr.. Turner, the sole survivor of the
early Hood River pioneers of the East
Side, gives the following list Of settlers {:
Nathaniel Benson, Nathaniel Coe,
jenkins, A. G. Phelps, James Benson,
who cultivated what is now the Lamar
place at the Indian creek bridge, Peter
Neal, father-in-law to Mr.. Turner,
William Odell on the Roberts place,
William Moss and Butler, whom Mr..
Turner later bought out.
Funeral services were conducted Sun
day morning at the Pine Grove church,
Rev. Dillinger of the Belmont church
conducting the services. Mr., Divers
had been a life long member of the
Methodist church. Interment was
made in the Pine Grove cemetery, where
Mrs. Divers was buried six years ago.
There was large attendance at the
funeral,