East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1910-04-14
THE PIONEER GRAVEYARD OF ,PENDLETON
Why should


observances of civilization, and, that
they left no marble tributes over their
dead, but made the living monument
in their memories more lasting.
/ Then, too. in that burial ground, as
1t Is today, are many shallow holes
where the mouldering bones of former
occupants have been disinterred and
removed to other places. In one of
these for many years rested the re-
mains of Nj. E. Goodwin whose name
shall stand imperishable as that of
the founder of Pendleton. He it was
who half century ago built a way
house on the spot where now stands
the Pendleton hotel, and for many
years conducted 1t with the aid of his
thrifty wife. And he it was also who
first bridged the Umatilla, building
the structure of timbers hewn and
whipsawed by his own hand, and re-
munerating his labors by charging
toll to the constant stream of home-
seekers and gold hunters which pass
ed this way. And later in the year
1869 it was he and Judge G. w. Bailey
who contributed the funds for the
erection Of the first Umatilla county
court house which was built and
stood for many years where the Red
Cross drug store, Schaefer's jewelry
store and F'razier's book store are
now located. Scarcely an incident of
the early history of this county but
with which his name is identified and
linked inseparably, and the very
ground upon which a great many of
ES
this city are now built is a part of his
former 16O acre homestead tract. His
aged widow, who is now Mrs. Aura
Raley, who is still alive and resides
in the city which she has seen grow
out Of trackless wild.
In one corner of the old cemetery
there still lies a piece of broken mar
Die over a grass grown grave which
tells that there lies all that remains of
the body of G. w. Bailey, the fourth
Judge of Umatilla county, and the
first who held court in Pendleton; an
other pioneer whose labors in this Sec
ton of eastern Oregon makes him a
prominent figure in its early history.
On one of the few tombstones which
have withstood the assaults of winds
and rains Is an inscription which re-
calls one of the most thrilling periods
of the early days, the defense of
homes against hostile Indians. On
one side it reads:
In memory of William Lamar.
sergeant in Captain Sperry's company
of Pendleton volunteers, killed in
fight with the Indians at Willow
Springs, July 6, 1878"
On the reverse side is chiseled:
BY the friends, who during his
short stay with us, learned to esteem
him, this monument is erected as a
tribute to his manly worth, and to
commemorate his gallant conduct"
! Mortally wounded in that memoir
able battle, he was carried to the
! Goodwin home where for a while ne
hovered between life and death. When
/ watchers from the hill north of town
decried the red fiends approaching
again and sent down that appalling
cry, THE Indians are coming," the
! dying man within heard and realized
the portent of that warning. He rails
| ed himself in bed and, with a cry of
My God, the Indians coming and no
one to protect my wife and babies"
fell back dead.
! IN that burial ground too. is the
grave of George Coggan, who with
Fred Foster and Al Bunker, was be-
trayed by an Indian women he had
long known, and who was killed by
her tribesmen while riding from Cay
use to this city. Bunker was wound
ed at the same time and fell in the
bed of a stream where he was found
next morning by a rescue party.
Stirring times those, when danger
walked hand in hand with those early
settlers with death always lurking
near to claim them as his own.
Standing in the center of the aban-
doned graveyard is a tall imposing
monument which, despite the storms
which have played about it, stands
as straight as on the day it was erect
ed to mark the last resting place of