Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1906-08-10
PIONEER MAIL CARRIER
Mr.. MOssman Continues His Narra-
tive OF Personal Experiences In
EARLY Days of Oregon.

PORTLAND, Or, Aug. 6-(To the
Editor. After my discharge from the
service, 1 walked from Salem to Tin
Pot valley in Southern Oregon, then
walked back to Corvallis and secured
job as carrier of the United States
mail. My route was $50 miles long,
lit was from Oakland, Oregon, to
Lafayette,) and as the round trip had
to be made every seven days, was
kept pretty busy.
Oakland was my starting point.
Going north from, the next office was
Locust Grove, in Yoncalla valley,
Richard Smith, postmaster; the next
was Yoncalla, Hon. Jesse Applegate,
postmaster; my next office was
Siuslaw; the next Long Tom, A. L.
Humphrey, postmaster; next, Starts
Point, Roland Hinton, postmaster; !;
next, Irving Butte, Richard irving,
postmaster; next Corvallis, J. HI.
Slater, postmaster; next, Tamplco, (at
that time called Soap Creek) The
next office was Luckiamute, Isaac
Staats, postmaster; next Bridgeport,
Charles Hubbard, postmaster; next
Dallas, w. O. Brown, postmaster /;
next, Rickreall, Col. Nat Ford, post
master; next, Etna, Thomas Riggs,
postmaster; next, Bethel, Mr.. Jeffries,
postmaster; next, Amity, Eugene
Breyman, postmaster; next, Dayton,
Cyrus Jacobs, postmaster; next,
Lafayette, A. R. Burbank, postmaster
This was the end of my route.
/ carried mail on this route for
three years, and it was very pleasant
occupation in the GOOD Old Summer
Time" but when the winter rains set
in it was no picnic swimming streams
and having to sleep in wet clothes for
a whole week at time.
Cartwrlght's hotel at the foot of the
Calapooya Mountains was a very
popular stopping place. On my way
south, I always stopped over night
there. One night in December, 1857, I
met at Cartwright's the following
prominent men: Governor Gibbs,
Judge Deadly, E. S. Kearney latter
wards U. S. Marshal for Oregon,
David Logan, B. F. Dowell, S. F.
Chadwick and Doctor L. F. Thomp-
son. They were jolly crowd. Dave
Logan was Master of Ceremonies.
Mrs. Cartwright always kept a jug of
medicine to be used in case Of snake
bites. She could not sell the stuff,
but she would sell glass of milk for
25 cents and give away the grog.
All of the above-named men have
crossed the dark river. They were all
prominently identified with the early
history of Oregon. The Cartwright
family are all dead, except the eldest
daughter, who is widow and was at
Medford the last time heard Of her
The first Chinese L ever saw were at
Cartwright's. arrived there very late
one night, and got to bed at I'll o'clock
In the night, I heard what l thought
was lot Of hogs grunting and fuss
ing. Hopping out of bed, I rushed to
the sleeping room Of the old folks and
told them there was a lot of hogs in
the house. The old lady said: "You
silly boy, those are Chinamen!"
Many amusing incidents took place
on my route. One day, while driving
through piece of timber up on the
Long Tom, overlook man with a
wagon and OK team. On the seat with
him was his wife holding a babe on
her lap. In the wagon-box, seated on
pile of straw, were five little fellows,
all bareheaded. Just before 1 caught
up with them, one of the hind wheels
of the mans wagon dropped into a
chuck hole, and one of the little
fellows fell out. l yelled to the man
that he had lost one of hischildreD. He
stopped and picked it up, when his
wife said "Bill Jones, you dod- -gasted
old fool, if you don't drive more care
full, we will lose half of them young
'uns before we get home" Idrove on
and let them settle the difficulty.
In the early days in Oregon, most
of the farms contained $40 acres.
There were large bands of Spanish
cattle, but it was rare thing to see
either butter or fresh meat. 1t was
fat bacon all the time. But the old
pioneers we're all good, generous
people, and nothing was too good fol
stranger
Dallas in 1867 was very small
town-a few houses on the hill on the
north side of the LaCreole river
W. G. Brown owned the town and
most Of the ground for miles around
II / mistake not, South Dallas wai
started in the Fall OF 1856 or the Spring
OF 1857. Alki tenas wawa.
ISAAC V. MOSSMAN.
Legal blanks at this Office.